software
The cloud boom is helping Microsoft to make a big leap in profits
The Microsoft logo hangs on the facade of an office building in Parkstadt Schwabing, in the north of the Bavarian capital. Photo: Peter Kneffel / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Working from home worldwide is proving to be a blessing for the Microsoft software group. Above all, his business with the cloud platform Azure is growing strongly.
The software giant Microsoft made splendid earnings in the past fiscal quarter thanks to its flourishing cloud services.
Net profit climbed in the three months to the end of September by 48 percent year-on-year to 20.5 billion dollars (17.7 billion euros), as the group announced on Tuesday after the US market closed. The sharp increase was also due to a tax credit worth billions. The company’s revenues grew 22 percent to $ 45.3 billion. The figures exceeded expectations, the share initially rose slightly after the trading hours.
Above all, the cloud business with the Azure platform, which supplies IT services and storage space to many other companies and apps, continued to boom with a 50 percent increase in sales. Microsoft continues to benefit from the home office trend. The PC division increased revenues by twelve percent. In addition to Windows software, hardware products such as the Xbox game console or the recently ailing business with “Surface” tablets are located here. The career network Linkedin, which belongs to the group, posted strong growth, with sales increasing by 42 percent.