ACADEMIA
Sun sales slightly dip by 0.5%
Sun Microsystems has reported results for its fiscal third quarter, which ended March 30, 2008. Revenues for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 were $3.266 billion, a decrease of 0.5 percent as compared with $3.283 billion for the third quarter of fiscal 2007. Total gross margin as a percent of revenues was 44.9, an increase of 0.4 percentage points, as compared with the third quarter of fiscal 2007. 
Net loss for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 on a GAAP basis was $34 million, or ($0.04) per share, as compared with net income of $67 million, or $0.07 per share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2007. In the third quarter of fiscal 2008, the company recorded a $52 million dollar tax provision, as compared to a tax benefit of $3 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2007. Net loss for the third quarter included charges related to the acquisition of MySQL, which reduced earnings per share by approximately $0.04. Cash generated from operations for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 was $329 million, and the cash and marketable debt securities balance at the end of the quarter was $3.801 billion. During the third quarter, Sun continued to leverage its cash position, spending $300 million to repurchase 17.5 million shares of its common stock. There is currently $500 million remaining of the $3 billion share repurchase program announced in the company's fiscal fourth quarter of 2007. "The U.S. economy presented Sun with significant challenges in the third quarter, masking our progress in developing nations and economies across the world," said Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems. "With double digit year-over-year growth in India and Brazil, and triple digit billings year-over-year growth in our energy efficient, Solaris-based Chip Multi-Threading (CMT) systems, Sun made considerable progress during the quarter. We continue to invest in the future created by open alternatives to proprietary technologies, best exemplified by the acquisition of MySQL. The world is moving to open source innovation, and Sun continues to lead that revolution" Third Quarter Highlights
Net loss for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 on a GAAP basis was $34 million, or ($0.04) per share, as compared with net income of $67 million, or $0.07 per share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2007. In the third quarter of fiscal 2008, the company recorded a $52 million dollar tax provision, as compared to a tax benefit of $3 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2007. Net loss for the third quarter included charges related to the acquisition of MySQL, which reduced earnings per share by approximately $0.04. Cash generated from operations for the third quarter of fiscal 2008 was $329 million, and the cash and marketable debt securities balance at the end of the quarter was $3.801 billion. During the third quarter, Sun continued to leverage its cash position, spending $300 million to repurchase 17.5 million shares of its common stock. There is currently $500 million remaining of the $3 billion share repurchase program announced in the company's fiscal fourth quarter of 2007. "The U.S. economy presented Sun with significant challenges in the third quarter, masking our progress in developing nations and economies across the world," said Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems. "With double digit year-over-year growth in India and Brazil, and triple digit billings year-over-year growth in our energy efficient, Solaris-based Chip Multi-Threading (CMT) systems, Sun made considerable progress during the quarter. We continue to invest in the future created by open alternatives to proprietary technologies, best exemplified by the acquisition of MySQL. The world is moving to open source innovation, and Sun continues to lead that revolution" Third Quarter Highlights
- Sun reported year-over-year revenue growth in 12 out of its 16 sales geographies during the third quarter, with double-digit revenue growth in key international markets across EMEA, Asia Pacific and the International Americas.
- From a product perspective, Solaris based Chip Multi-Threading (CMT) systems billings more than doubled year-over-year, with the Company's blade systems also delivering impressive billings growth fueled by Sun's comprehensive portfolio spanning AMD Opteron, Intel Xeon and Sun UltraSPARC offerings.
- Furthering its presence in the open source software marketplace, Sun announced the close of two significant acquisitions: MySQL, the world's most popular open source database provider, and innotek, whose VirtualBox products provide free desktop virtualization.
- Sun signed a landmark collaboration agreement with The People's Republic of China Ministry of Education to cultivate integrated circuit engineering talent and industry development based upon Sun's OpenSPARC open source silicon platform.
- Sun was awarded significant contracts including funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for a five and a half year research project focused on microchip interconnectivity via on-chip optical networks enabled by silicon photonics and proximity communication.