Blue cloud rising: Azure maintains steady growth
Written by James Orme Thu 25 Apr 2019
In Q3 2019, the computing giant saw a giant boost in revenue, operating income and net profit compared with the same period last year
Since Microsoft announced it was predominantly focusing on its cloud business, every time it holds a quarterly earnings call Wall Street listens closely to how Azure and Microsoft’s other cloud services have performed.
Yesterday Microsoft held its earnings call for Q3 2019, reporting an unexpected (and giant) jump in income which it credited to the increased uptake of commercial cloud and Office 365 subscriptions. The company’s net income climbed 18 percent compared to the same period last year, to 8.8 billion dollars (£6.8 billion).
“Leading organisations of every size in every industry trust the Microsoft cloud,” said Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella.
“We are accelerating our innovation across the cloud and edge so our customers can build the digital capability increasingly required to compete and grow.”
Revenue stood at 30.6 billion dollars (£23.7 billion) – a rise of 14 percent – while operating income jumped by 25 percent to 10.3 billion dollars (£8 billion) and net income climbed 18 percent to 8.8 billion dollars (£6.8 billion)
The company’s key online software suite Office and cloud services led much of the positive results, with revenue up by 12 percent for the commercial side, driven by a 30 percent rise in revenue from Office 365 Commercial. Microsoft Azure grew 73 percent, fractionally lower than the growth seen in Q2 2019.
Its consumer Office products and cloud services painted a similar picture, increasing revenue by 8 percent, and counting 34.2 million subscribers to its Office 365 Consumer service.
Revenue from its Surface devices also increased 21 percent, while gaming grew 5 percent, with Xbox software and services revenue growing of 12 percent.
“Demand for our cloud offerings drove commercial cloud revenue to 9.6 billion dollar this quarter, up 41 percent year-over-year,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft.
“We continue to drive growth in revenue and operating income with consistent execution from our sales teams and partners and targeted strategic investments.”
Written by James Orme Thu 25 Apr 2019