Microsoft Corp. reported a sharp dip in quarterly profit Thursday, but met Wall Street's lowered forecasts, hurt by a decline in technology spending in a global economic downturn.

The world's largest software company, which withdrew its profit forecasts in January due to the uncertain economy, said it expected weakness in its markets to continue through at least the next quarter.

Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, reported fiscal third-quarter profit of $2.98 billion, or 33 cents per share, compared with $4.39 billion, or 47 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Excluding costs of recent layoffs and charges for impaired investments, Microsoft reported profit of 39 cents per share. That met analysts' average estimate, according to Reuters Estimates.

Sales fell 6 percent to $13.65 billion, marking the first year-on-year decline in quarterly revenue in Microsoft's 34-year history. Analysts were expecting $14.1 billion, on average.

The company's shares rose 3.1 percent in after-hours trading, after closing at $18.92 on Nasdaq.

By: DocMemory
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