Adobe Posts Record Revenue of Over $1 Billion in the Fourth Quarter

Adobe has posted results for its fourth fiscal quarter of 2010. The company revealed record revenue and profits as it ended a great quarter. It was also the first quarter in the company's history to bring in more than $1 billion in revenue, a 33 percent bump over the previous year.

"We posted our first billion dollar quarter and record annual revenue in 2010, driven by outstanding performance across all of our major businesses," Shantanu Narayen, president and CEO of Adobe, said.

"Adobe is transforming how the world is creating, measuring and delivering digital experiences. We are one of the most diversified software companies in the world and are entering 2011 with strong momentum," he added.

Adobe brought in $1.008 billion in revenue in its fiscal fourth quarter. That's up from $757.3 million in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2009. Revenue in FQ4 was slightly above Adobe and the market's expectations.

This was Adobe's biggest quarter to date and the best year to date after a somewhat disappointing 2009. Adobe saw losses of $32 million in the fiscal fourth quarter of the previous year.

It was also a record year for Adobe as revenues reached $3.8 billion in 2010. That's up from $2.946 billion in 2009, a 29 percent growth.

Product sales revenue was up 24 percent year-over-year. Adobe still makes the bulk of its revenue from its software offerings, particularly the Creative Suite.

However, subscription revenue tripled compared to 2009, reaching over $100 million in FQ4, up from $36 million in the previous year. Services and support revenue also saw an increase of 53 percent.

Adobe has had an eventful year as its Flash platform is under increased attack. Apple publicly criticized Flash and hasn't included it in either the iPhone or the iPad. It also stopped shipping Flash with some of its devices, like the MacBook AIR.