英中雙語外文新聞 --- 微軟利潤增長21%，助推遊戲發展

Microsoft profits up 21%, giving cushion for gaming push
微軟利潤增長21%，助推遊戲發展

Last week, Microsoft announced its plans to buy high-profile game publisher Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion
上週，微軟宣佈計劃以687億美元收購知名遊戲發行商動視暴雪。

Associated Press
美聯社

Big tech stocks take a major hit
大型科技股遭受重創

Constellation Research CEO Ray Wang and Market Gauge Group Managing Director Michelle Schneider react to tech stocks taking a major hit and discuss the role inflation and COVID-19 play on the markets
Constellation Research執行長Ray Wang和Market Gauge Group董事總經理Michelle Schneider回應了科技股暴跌一事，並討論了通貨膨脹和新冠疫情對市場的影響。

Demand for Microsoft’s cloud-computing services and work software helped boost its quarterly profits by 21% as the pandemic continued to keep many office workers at home.
由於新冠疫情持續不散，許多上班族留在家裡上班，因此，對微軟的雲計算服務和工作軟體的需求幫助其季度利潤增加了21%。

The Redmond, Washington company on Tuesday reported fiscal second-quarter profit of $18.8 billion.It posted revenue of $51.7 billion for the October-December period, up 20% from a year earlier.
這家華盛頓州雷德蒙德的公司於週二報告第二財季利潤為188億美元。該公司10-12月期間的收入為517億美元，比去年同期上升了20%。

Bobby Kotick, chief executive officer of Activision Blizzard Inc., (L), Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella (R) (Photographer:Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Microsoft / Getty Images)
動視暴雪公司執行長Bobby Kotick（左），微軟執行長Satya Nadella（右）（攝影師。Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images | Microsoft / Getty Images)

Microsoft last week announced its plans to buy high-profile game publisher Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, an all-cash deal that could be the priciest tech acquisition in history if it withstands scrutiny by antitrust regulators.It could also catapult the Xbox-maker ahead of Nintendo to join Sony and Tencent as one of the three biggest video game companies.
微軟上週宣佈計劃以687億美元的價格收購知名遊戲發行商動視暴雪，如果這筆全現金交易透過反壟斷監管機構的審查，則該收購可能是歷史上最昂貴的科技收購。該收購也可能使這家Xbox製造商超越任天堂，與索尼和騰訊一起躋身影片遊戲公司三強。

MICROSOFT DEAL MAKES ACTIVISION CEO BOBBY KOTICK EVEN RICHER
微軟的交易使動視執行長BOBBY KOTICK變得更加富有

But the financial results revealed Tuesday show it’s still business-focused products such as Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform and its suite of software products that are driving the company’s growth.
但週二披露的財報顯示，推動公司增長的仍然是以商業為重點的產品，如微軟的Azure雲計算平臺及其軟體產品套件。

Net income of $2.48 per share beat Wall Street expectations.Analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting Microsoft to earn $2.32 per share on revenue of $50.71 billion for the fiscal quarter.
每股2.48美元的淨收入超出華爾街預期。FactSet調查的分析師曾預計，微軟該財季的收入為507.1億美元，每股收益為2.32美元。

Sales from Microsoft’s cloud computing business segment grew 26% to $18.3 billion in the quarter ending in December.
在截至12月的這一季度，微軟的雲計算業務部門的銷售額增長了26%，達到183億美元。

The Microsoft headquarters campus in Redmond, Washington.(iStock / iStock)
位於華盛頓州雷德蒙德的微軟總部園區。(iStock/iStock)

Microsoft’s productivity segment, which includes its Office suite of workplace products such as email, grew by 19% from the same period a year earlier, to $15.9 billion.The productivity segment also includes revenue from Microsoft’s LinkedIn jobs networking service, which increased 37% from the same time a year earlier.
微軟的生產力部門，包括Office工作場所產品套件（例如電子郵件），比上年同期增長了19%，達到159億美元。生產力部門還包括微軟的領英工作網路服務的收入，該收入比去年同期增長了37%。

The company late last year halted its localized version of LinkedIn in mainland China, citing tightening government restrictions affecting the only major Western social networking platform that had still operated in the country.
該公司去年年底停止了其在中國大陸的本土化版本領英，理由是政府的限制越來越嚴格，影響了唯一仍在中國大陸運營的主要西方社交網路平臺。

Microsoft’s personal computing business, which includes Windows software licenses, Xbox and its Surface line of devices, grew by 15% to $17.5 billion.
微軟的個人計算業務，包括Windows軟體許可、Xbox和其Surface系列裝置，增長了15%，達到175億美元。

Staff members play on Microsoft's Xbox Series X gaming console at a flagship store of SK Telecom in Seoul on November 10, 2020.(Photo by JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
2020年11月10日，工作人員在首爾SK Telecom的一家旗艦店玩微軟的Xbox系列X遊戲機。(Photo by JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Holiday gadget sales typically make the October-December quarter an important one for Surface devices and Xbox games and consoles.The company said Xbox content and services revenue grew 10% over the same time a year earlier.Xbox hardware revenue grew more modestly at 4% — in part because numbers in late 2020 had been boosted by the release of Microsoft’s Xbox Series X system, the company’s first new console since 2013.
通常，假日小工具銷售會使10-12月季度成為Surface裝置以及Xbox遊戲和控制檯的重要季度。該公司表示，Xbox內容和服務收入比去年同期增長10%。Xbox硬體收入增長較為溫和，為4% — 部分原因是2020年底的數字因微軟Xbox系列X系統的釋出而得到提升，這是該公司自2013年以來的第一款新遊戲機。

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Microsoft expects that snapping up Activision, the owner of popular games such as Candy Crush, Call of Duty, Overwatch and World of Warcraft, will boost demand for its Xbox Game Pass subscription service while also advancing its broader ambitions for creating immersive virtual worlds.
微軟預計，收購動視，即《糖果粉碎傳奇》、《使命召喚》、《守望先鋒》和《魔獸世界》等流行遊戲的所有者，將促進對其Xbox Game Pass訂閱服務的需求，同時也推動其建立沉浸式虛擬世界的更大雄心。