Microsoft Posts Record Profit Boosted by Cloud Services

Microsoft posted most profitable quarter so far, beating expectations for revenue and earnings. The main reason for the jump was the demand for their cloud-based services. Revenue in Intelligent Cloud segment rose 30 percent (up 26% in constant currency) to $17.4 billion, with 51 percent growth in Azure business.

“We are innovating across the technology stack to help organizations drive new levels of tech intensity across their business,“ said Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO of Microsoft. “Our results show that when we execute well and meet customers’ needs in differentiated ways in large and growing markets, we generate growth, as we’ve seen in our commercial cloud and in new franchises we’ve built, including gaming, security, and LinkedIn, all of which surpassed $10 billion in annual revenue over the past three years.“

“As we closed out the fiscal year, our sales teams and partners delivered a strong quarter with over 20% top and bottom-line growth, highlighted by commercial bookings growth of 30% year over year,“ said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft. “Our commercial cloud revenue grew 36% year over year to $19.5 billion.“

Revenue in Productivity and Business Processes was $14.7 billion and increased 25% (up 21% in constant currency). Revenue in More Personal Computing was $14.1 billion and increased 9% (up 6% in constant currency). Microsoft returned $10.4 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2021, an increase of 16% compared to the same period of the previous year.

The company also announced the results for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2021, as compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year. Revenue was $168.1 billion and increased 18%, while operating income was $69.9 billion and increased 32%. Net income was $61.3 billion GAAP and $60.7 billion non-GAAP, and increased 38% and 37%, respectively. Diluted earnings per share was $8.05 GAAP and $7.97 non-GAAP, and increased 40% and 38%, respectively.