IBM, the world's biggest computer company, says "its quarterly profit fell for the sixth quarter in a row, but sales rose, helped by the purchase of PriceWaterhousecoopers Consulting," reports Reuters. After charges for the PwCC take-over, income from continuing operations was $1.9 billion, down from $2.6 billion, on quarterly sales that grew by 7% to $23.7 billion. (Whoops, did Reuters really forget to put that bit in?)
Over the full year, IBM's total sales slipped 2% to $81.2 billion, while profits plunged from $8.1 billion in 2001 to $5.3 billion in 2002 -- thanks mainly to the $1.5 billion invested in gobbling up PwCC. IBM's revenues peaked at $88.4 billion in 2000, and it is now back to roughly where it was in 1998.