The Speech of Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer at Microsoft Corp.'s Annual Meeting

Speaking to shareholders at Microsoft Corp.'s annual meeting today, Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer highlighted the company's recent product launches and financial performance, and outlined the company's shift to devices and services. "In 2012, our revenue grew to a record $73.7 billion," Ballmer said. "We also maintained strong cost discipline resulting in cash flow from operations of $31.6 billion, an increase of 17 percent from the prior year. In addition, we returned more than $10 billion to shareholders through stock buybacks and dividends." Over the past several months, the company has shipped an unprecedented wave of new products, including Windows 8, Microsoft Surface, Windows Phone 8, Xbox Music, "Halo 4" and Windows Server 2012, in addition to a host of other products, services and applications. Ballmer noted that over time the full value of the company's software will be seen and felt in how people use devices and services at work and play: "Focusing on devices and services will impact how we run the company, how we develop new experiences and how we take products to market for both consumers and businesses. The work we have accomplished in the past year and the road map in front of us brings this to life." It's been one full month since Windows 8 became generally available, and to date Microsoft has sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses. Companies worldwide are already adopting Windows 8 including Johnson & Johnson, BT (British Telecom), 20th Century Fox Television Distribution, Bank of America Corp. and Seton Hall University. In addition, the Windows Phone Store now has over 120,000 apps, which include 46 of the top 50, and is rising daily. Microsoft also pointed to recent Xbox sales during the week of Black Friday, which totaled over 750,000 Xbox consoles in the U.S. alone.