Microsoft’s shares rose about 4 per cent in after-hours trading after the software giant reported revenue of $92.3bn for the three months to September 30, surpassing Wall Street’s expectations of $90.6bn. Sales in its Azure cloud division reached $33.2bn, up 48 per cent from $22.4bn a year ago, as the company disclosed cloud sales figures for the first time. Analysts had anticipated $32.3bn.
The company is investing hundreds of billions into AI infrastructure to meet rising demand for data centre capacity. Net income rose 32 per cent to $36.6bn, while capital expenditure stood at $45.2bn, below forecasts. Microsoft also announced buyout packages for up to 60,000 staff across the US, Canada, UK, and India to control costs, with headcount falling 2 per cent year-on-year.
The contracted backlog for data centre capacity slightly declined to $677bn from $678bn the previous quarter.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing