Microsoft’s All-Time Revenue Just Topped $1 Trillion

Last quarter, Microsoft’s all-time revenue finally surpassed the $1 trillion mark to join arch rival Apple in the “four commas” club. That’s a lot of Zune players.

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$1 trillion in all-time cumulative revenue is an achievement few companies can boast about. But it seems Microsoft doesn’t want anyone to know about it. The historic milestone was spotted by technology consultant Jeff Reifman while looking over the company’s tax records.

“As I was researching Microsoft’s Washington State tax breaks, I realised that the company’s cumulative revenues surpassed $1 trillion this past quarter,” Reifman explained in a blog post.

“You might expect a company to announce a milestone like this and bask in this incredible accomplishment — but not Microsoft. It chose to stay silent as it faces increased public scrutiny for holding $108.3 billion in earnings offshore (an incredible 41% of its all time profit) and its history of tax dodging at home in Washington State.”

Interestingly, Apple hit $1 trillion in all-time revenue last year, but has enjoyed less profits overall: $261.6 billion in cumulative profits compared to Microsoft’s $265.2 billion. Amazon and Google, meanwhile, still have a long way to go before they reach the $1 trillion mark: they are currently about half-way there.

In his post, Reifman goes on to blame many of Washington’s socioeconomic problems on the generous tax breaks that have allowed the technology sector to thrive.

“Combined, Microsoft and Amazon have earned more than $1.5 trillion in revenues and helped create more than 161,220 millionaires but the wealthy here pay the lowest share of taxes in the entire country.”

[Via Jeff Reifman]


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