IBM Revenue Falls for Seventh Straight Quarter

Technology giant IBM posted its seventh straight quarter of declining revenue Tuesday as the company, known as Big Blue, announced an annual sales drop for the second straight year.Fourth-quarter sales slid 5.5% to 27.7 billion dollars compared to a year earlier, while annual revenue dropped 5% to 99.8 billion dollars, the first time since 2010 that sales have been below 100 billion dollars, according to the (DPA).The gloomy sales picture was brightened by a 6% boost in fourth-quarter profit to 6.19 billion dollars, largely due to a lower tax burden.The company performed worst in the Asia Pacific region, where revenues decreased 16%, compared to a 1% increase in Europe, Africa and the Middle East and a 3% drop in the Americas.Revenues in the major emerging-market BRIC countries , Brazil, Russia, India and China , decreased 14%.