Oracle revenue, profit fall

Oracle reported a drop in quarterly sales and profit today, while still beating Wall Street expectations. A decline in software purchases was offset by the company's huge base of existing customers who continued to pay for maintenance and upgrades. The Redwood City software giant reported net income of $1.9 billion for the quarter that ended May 31, down 7 percent from the same period a year ago, on revenue of $6.9 billion, which was down 5 percent from a year ago.

Those figures were better than predicted by Wall Street analysts and the company's own forecast, issued three months ago as the recession was hitting Silicon Valley hard. Oracle executives were cautious Tuesday about projecting an upturn, but said they were encouraged by a growing pipeline of deals.