Numbers
October 26th, 2006
ExxonMobile announced that their third-quarter profit was $10.49 billion. In 2005, ExxonMobile had a net profit of $36.1 billion on revenues of $370 billion (9.75%).
For comparison, Microsoft had earnings of $3.48 billion in their first fiscal quarter. For fiscal 2006, their profit margin was 28.5%.
If Microsoft had Exxon’s 2005 revenue but retained their profit margin, they would have had a net profit of $105.5 billion.
Exxon’s quarterly profit is front-page news; Microsoft’s is relegated to the interior of the business section.
People are infatuated with large numbers.
Revenue is vanity, margin is sanity, and cash is king, right?
interesting argument. i’d say the headlines are political propaganda slants more so than anything, especially with the elections creeping up.
Also, oil is probably a hotter topic than software at the moment.