Ballmer Sees Global Crisis Hitting Microsoft

Ballmer Sees Global Crisis Hitting Microsoft Topics:Technology | Information Technology Sectors:Software and Computer Services | Software | Technology

Microsoft [MSFT  26.14    1.13  (+4.52%)   ] Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Tuesday the global financial crisis will sap consumer and business spending, affecting all companies, including his own.

Robert Scoble

"Financial issues are going to affect both business spending and consumer spending, and particularly...spending by the financial services industry," Ballmer told reporters on the sidelines of a news conference in the Norwegian capital.

"We have a lot of business with the corporate sector as well as with the consumer sector and whatever happens economically will certainly effect itself on Microsoft," he told Reuters.

"I think one has to anticipate that no company is immune to these issues," he said, but declined to be more specific.

Wall Street analysts, on average, expect the Redmond, Washington-based company to generate an 8 percent rise in revenue to just under $15 billion in its first-quarter ending in September