Cloud, business services lift Microsoft earnings

Microsoft on Tuesday reported a jump in profits in the recently ended quarter, keeping strong momentum from accelerated gains in cloud computing during the pandemic. Profits for the fiscal fourth quarter rose 47 per cent to $16.5 billion and revenue grew 21 per cent to $46.2 billion.

"We are innovating across the technology stack to help organizations drive new levels of tech intensity across their business," said Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer 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.

"The results included a 20 per cent rise in revenue in Microsoft's Office commercial products and cloud services, and a 46 per cent increase in revenue for its LinkedIn professional social network.

Microsoft boosted its  "intelligent cloud" revenue by 30 per cent, a key segment for the company which has shifted its emphasis from consumer to enterprise services.

Analyst Dan Ives at Wedbush Securities said that amid a move to cloud computing and a hybrid work trend  "the company continues to be a major beneficiary of this trend on its flagship Azure/Office 365 franchise.

"Microsoft shares dipped some 2.8 per cent in after-hours trade.