Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Microsoft's cloud keeps printing cash, Surface not so much as Windows giant pockets $119m profit a day

Microsoft's cloud keeps printing cash, Surface not so much as Windows giant pockets $119m profit a day

Microsoft on Wednesday reported $33.1bn in revenue for its fiscal 2020 Q1, representing a 14 per cent increase over the same period last year, and profits of $10.7bn, up 21 per cent.

Its results, led by the company's Azure cloud service, were slightly better than analysts had expected: the average estimate came to $32.23bn, and so Microsoft's stock floated higher in after-hours trading.

Fittingly, CEO Satya Nadella credited demand for cloud services among large companies for the influx of cash in a celebratory statement that included something about "accelerating our innovation across the entire tech stack" alongside other words like "customers," "growth," and "opportunity."

A more succinct rendering would be, "It was a good quarter. We sold a lot of stuff. And we plan to continue doing so."


Cloud good, Surface not so good

For the three months to calendar September 30, earnings per share came to $1.38, representing a 21 per cent increase from FY19 Q1. Investors may also have appreciated the $7.9bn the company spent on dividends and the repurchase of shares, a 28 per cent increase year-on-year.

The Windows-Office-Azure biz saw its operating income reach $12.7bn, up 27 per cent. Redmond's Intelligent Cloud segment brought in $10.8bn in revenue, an increase of 27 per cent. Within that group, server products and cloud services revenue saw a 30 per cent revenue gain, thanks largely to Azure revenue growth of 59 per cent, and enterprise services managed a 7 per cent revenue increase.

Microsoft's productivity and business processes segment accounted for $11.1bn, a 13 per cent increase. The business groups responsible for that include: Office Commercial, which saw a 13 per cent revenue increase driven by Office 365 Commercial revenue growth of 25 per cent; Office Consumer, which reported 5 per cent more revenue; LinkedIn, which delivered 25 per cent more revenue; and Dynamic products and cloud services, which provided a 14 per cent revenue increase, driven by Dynamics 365 revenue growth of 41 per cent.

Meanwhile, Microsoft's more personal computing segment brought in $11.1bn, up 4 per cent from the same quarter a year ago. Within that group: Windows OEM revenue rose 9 per cent; Windows Commercial products and cloud services rose 26 per cent; search advertising revenue rose 11 per cent; Xbox content and services remained flat; and Surface revenue slipped 4 per cent, although the recently released models may change that.

With segments sliced to collect cloud-related products and services into a single group called commercial cloud, revenue rose 36 per cent to reach $11.6bn. Included in this calculation are Microsoft Office 365 Commercial, Microsoft Azure, LinkedIn money-making parts, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and a few other commercial cloud properties.

On a conference call for investors, Nadella also led with talk of cloud prowess. "Every Fortune 500 company today is on a cloud migration journey and were making it faster and easier," he said, pointing to the customer appeal of cloud partnerships with the likes of SAP, VMware, and Oracle.

During the conference call Q&A, Nadella elaborated on the scope of Microsoft's cloud concerns, which are not confined to Azure data centers. Hybrid cloud contracts, he said, are not a transitory phase, but a phenomenon that can be expected to continue because computing goes where the data. And increasingly that's happening at the network's edge.

In remarks sent to The Register via email, Ryan Duguid, chief of evangelism and advanced technology at Nintex, sounded about as upbeat as you might expect from a Microsoft partner basking in the warmth of heavily-utilized Azure servers.

"Not only is the company continuing to grow market share through Azure, but there seems to be a new found energy in the competition with Salesforce as a platform of choice for business applications, spearheaded by Dynamics, LinkedIn and the Power Platform," Duguid said.

"Combined with an impressive line-up of new devices showcased in the recent Surface event, it’s clear that this is going to be a big year for the tech titan." ®

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
EU Proposes Phasing Out Russian Oil and Gas by End of 2027 to End Energy Dependence
More Than 150,000 Followers for a Fictional Character: The New Influencers Are AI Creations
EU Prepares for War
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Big Tech Executives Laud Trump at White House Dinner, Unveil Massive U.S. Investments
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
‘Looks Like a Wig’: Online Users Express Concern Over Kate Middleton
Florida’s Vaccine Revolution: DeSantis Declares War on Mandates
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
"The Situation Has Never Been This Bad": The Fall of PepsiCo
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
The Fashion Designer Who Became an Italian Symbol: Giorgio Armani Has Died at 91
Putin Celebrates ‘Unprecedentedly High’ Ties with China as Gazprom Seals Power of Siberia-2 Deal
China Unveils New Weapons in Grand Military Parade as Xi Hosts Putin and Kim
Rapper Cardi B Cleared of Liability in Los Angeles Civil Assault Trial
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Druzhba Pipeline Incident Sparks Geopolitical Tensions
Cost of Opposition Leader Péter Magyar's Economic Plan Revealed
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
Von der Leyen's Plane Hit by Suspected Russian GPS Interference in an Incident Believed to Be Caused by Russia or by Pro-Peace or by Anti-Corruption European Activists
China's Robotics Industry Fuels Export Surge
Suntory Chairman Resigns After Police Probe
Gold Price Hits New All-Time Record
UK Fintechs Explore Buying US Banks
Greece Suspends 5% of Schools as Birth Rate Drops
Apollo to Launch $5 Billion Sports Investment Vehicle
Bolsonaro Trial Nears Close Amid US-Brazil Tension
European Banks Push for Lower Cross-Border Barriers
Poland's Offshore Wind Sector Attracts Investors
×