Remember all those licensing deals that Microsoft inked with Android manufacturers like HTC, Samsung, Acer and others? Well here's a little update for you. Microsoft is making a whopping $2 billion from those deals annually. According to Nomura analyst Rick Sherlund, Microsoft is making an average of $5.00 per Android phone sold, and they have about 70% of the market covered with their deals between OEMs and ODMs. If you factor in 90% gross margin on these revenues, It's estimated that Microsoft took in $1.6 billion for the 2013 fiscal year, and they are expected to bring in $1.73 billion for the 2014 fiscal year. 2015 will bring in $1.82 billion.
To further clarify things, if it weren't for Android, Microsoft would be losing a boatload of money in the Entertainment and Devices Division (EDD). This division covers the Xbox, Windows Phone, and Skype. If Microsoft didn't have these deals in place, the EDD division would be losing about $2.5 billion annually with Xbox representing $2 billion of that number.
I think it's safe to say that Microsoft makes a lot more money from Android than Windows Phones, therefore making them Android's biggest fans to date.
source: ZDNet
