Microsoft finished its September quarter with revenue of 92.3 billion dollars and operating profit of 45.9 billion dollars. Cloud services expanded faster than the group as a whole. The software company also reported a sharp difference between headline earnings growth and the increase calculated after removing the effects of its OpenAI investments.
Economics & Markets··Morning
Cloud services expand faster than total sales
Quarterly results from Microsoft put group revenue at 92.3 billion dollars for the three months ended in September. Revenue rose 19 per cent against the equivalent period a year earlier.[1], [2]
Cloud revenue reached 63.9 billion dollars, an annual increase of 30 per cent. The cloud computing service Azure grew revenue by 48 per cent. Operating income across the group rose 21 per cent to 45.9 billion dollars; removing exchange-rate movements put that increase at 22 per cent.[1]
Net income increased 32 per cent to 36.6 billion dollars under standard accounting rules. Excluding the effects of investments in OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company, net income was 36.4 billion dollars, up 18 per cent. Those investments contributed a net gain of 207 million dollars this quarter, against a 3.1 billion dollar net loss a year earlier.[1]
Devices and consumer revenue declines
The Devices and Consumer division recorded revenue of 15.5 billion dollars, down 3 per cent. Xbox content and services revenue declined 2 per cent, while Windows manufacturer licensing and devices fell 22 per cent. Search and advertising revenue, excluding traffic acquisition costs, rose 12 per cent. Microsoft distributed 10.2 billion dollars through dividends and share repurchases during the quarter.[1]
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