SEATTLE (AP) - Microsoft Corp.'s fiscal third-quarter profit jumped 65 percent, buoyed by sales of its new versions of Windows and Office and by upgrade coupons for the operating system issued over the holidays.

Earnings for the quarter ended March 31 rose to $4.93 billion, or 50 cents per share, from $2.98 billion, or 29 cents per share in same period last year.

Results included legal charges amounting to 1 cent per share, but tax benefits boosted profit by 2 cents per share.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial forecast a profit of 46 cents per share.

Revenue for the quarter rose 32 percent to $14.4 billion. Wall Street was looking for $13.89 billion in sales.

Microsoft started selling its newest operating system, Windows Vista, to consumers at the end of January. Its "client" division, responsible for Windows, brought in $5.27 billion in sales, 67 percent higher than a year ago.

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) - At $282 million, Ford Motor Co.'s first-quarter loss was much improved over the $1.4 billion in red ink it posted during the same quarter last year.

Company officials touted the results as a sign that its restructuring plans were taking hold, but Ford still is struggling to make money on its core business - selling cars and trucks in North America.

The first-quarter loss, announced yesterday, was Ford's seventh consecutive negative quarter, but the automaker said the smaller deficit reflected its efforts aimed at cutting costs and rolling out new products to compete with Asian automakers.

Ford's revenue rose 5 percent, its loss excluding special items was smaller than Wall Street expected and its shares rose more than 4 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.

CEO Alan Mulally said in a conference call with reporters and industry analysts that Ford was making progress.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable television operator, yesterday reported that first-quarter profits surged by 80 percent, in part helped by a one-time gain resulting from the dissolution of a joint venture with Time Warner Cable.

The Philadelphia-based company posted a net income of $837 million, or 26 cents per share, in the quarter compared with $466 million, or 15 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.

The most recent quarter includes a $500 million gain related to ending a cable partnership owned by Comcast and Time Warner serving Kansas City, Mo., southern Texas and Houston. The venture's end resulted in Comcast getting Houston, effective in January, and Time Warner taking the rest.

Excluding the gain, Comcast would have reported 17 cents per share in profits, which is in line with expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial.

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SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - The chief architect of Sony Corp.'s flagship PlayStation game console will retire in June as the company struggles to retain dominance in the video game industry and revive its flagging reputation as an electronics and entertainment pioneer.

Ken Kutaragi, 56, an icon among gamers, will step down as Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.'s chairman and group chief executive, Tokyo-based Sony said yesterday. He will be replaced by Kazuo Hirai, who is now president and chief operating officer of the division.

In December, Kutaragi was relieved of day-to-day responsibilities as president of the video game unit but stayed on as its chief executive and chairman.

Kutaragi's most recent brainchild, the PlayStation 3 console, came out in November but was marred by embarrassing production shortages and a $600 price tag that some Sony fans said was too steep. For the past several months, Sony has resorted to giving away free game titles and other marketing gimmicks to spur sales.

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Flight attendants at Northwest Airlines Corp. tentatively settled on pay cuts on yesterday, giving them a shot at a $182 million share of the airline's reorganization in exchange for the millions more they have given up.

The union said the bankruptcy claim could be worth $15,000 to $18,000 per flight attendant. That could serve as an incentive for the rank-and-file to approve the new contract. Flight attendants rejected tentative agreements twice last year - with 80 percent of the vote in June, and with 55 percent of the vote in July.

The union's Master Executive Council was meeting Thursday to decide whether to send the agreement out for a vote by the rank-and-file.

The agreement gave Northwest the $195 million in yearly savings it wanted, through a mix of pay cuts and changes to work rules. The airline's 9,000 flight attendants had already been working under the terms of the first rejected contract, which a judge allowed Northwest to impose. Other terms of the new agreement weren't disclosed, although the airline said it includes changes "that Northwest believes will improve the flight attendants' work environment."

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By The Associated Press

The Dow rose 15.61, or 0.12 percent, to 13,105.50 after hitting a fresh trading high of 13,132.80.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 1.17, or 0.08 percent, to 1,494.25, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 6.57, or 0.26 percent, to 2,554.46.

The benchmark light, sweet crude for June delivery fell 78 cents to settle at $65.06 a barrel in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after rising $1.26 a barrel Wednesday.

Brent crude for June delivery fell 92 cents to settle at $67.65 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

Gasoline futures rose less than a penny to settle at $2.2903.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures dropped 1.24 cents to settle at $1.8891 a gallon while natural gas prices fell 18.1 cents to settle at $7.508 per 1,000 cubic feet.