Microsoft has announced a robust performance for its recent quarter, with sales climbing 18 per cent to $US77.7 billion ($118.2 billion). The technology behemoth also reported a significant 22 per cent surge in quarterly profit, reaching $US30.8 billion, or $US4.13 per share. These figures surpassed Wall Street’s projections for the July-September period, indicating a strong market position. Microsoft is a multinational technology corporation that develops, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products, services, and devices. It is best known for its Windows operating system and Office productivity suite.
The company clarified that these results exclude approximately $US3 billion invested in OpenAI during the quarter. This disclosure aimed to provide transparency regarding the impact of these investments on Microsoft’s core business operations. Analysts, surveyed by FactSet Research, had anticipated earnings of $US3.67 per share on revenue of $US75.38 billion. Microsoft’s actual performance exceeded these expectations, demonstrating considerable financial strength.
Notably, these results were released a day after Microsoft’s valuation briefly reached $US4 trillion following a new agreement with OpenAI, marking the second time this year it has hit that milestone. However, shares experienced a downturn in the hours leading up to the earnings announcement. This decline coincided with an outage affecting its Azure cloud computing platform, potentially impacting investor sentiment. Despite this setback, the overall quarterly results reflect a period of substantial growth and profitability for Microsoft.