Microsoft Celebrates Revenue Boost, Acclaims LinkedIn Profits as PC Unit Stumbles

Microsoft has disclosed its earnings for the quarter ending on March 31st, 2017, outplaying the numbers of the same period last year. The renowned tech giant saw its revenue surge to $23.6 billion (non-GAAP), a considerable leap from the $22.1 billion earned during the same quarter in 2016.

Furthermore, its net income amounted to a notable $7.1 billion, as opposed to the $5 billion obtained during the comparative quarter in the previous year. In terms of GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles), the revenues were $22.1 billion and net income stood at $4.8 billion.

Microsoft’s financial results, in a nutshell, would translate for shareholders to diluted earnings per share of $0.61 (GAAP) and $0.73 (non-GAAP).

As the report indicates, Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, contributed the positive performance of the company to the resounding success of Microsoft Cloud. He stated, “Our results this quarter reflect the trust customers are placing in the Microsoft Cloud. Organizations worldwide, from large multi-nationals to small and medium-sized businesses, to non-profit entities are harnessing the power of Microsoft’s cloud platforms to drive their digital transformation.”

Diving into the intricate details, the More Personal Computing division saw a revenue of $8.8 billion but dipped 7% primarily due to lagging phone revenues. Surprisingly, the Windows OEM revenue and Windows commercial products, as well as cloud services revenue, managed to tick up by a respectable 5% and 6% respectively.

However, the revenue from Surface shrank a staggering 26%, while gaming revenue rose by 4%. The search advertising witnessed an increment of 8% on removing traffic acquisition costs.

The unquestionable show-stealer of this performance, Microsoft’s intelligent cloud business, comprised enterprise services and other server products, reporting an impressive revenue upshot of $6.8b. The highlight was an astounding 93 percent year-on-year growth of Azure.

Another rosette on Microsoft’s performance hat was the earnings of LinkedIn, its recently integrated family member that contributed a whopping $975 million to the productivity business unit revenue. Consequently, the Productivity and Business Processes division joined the growth party by surging 22% to ring up revenues of $8.0 billion.

Despite the success elsewhere, Microsoft’s Personal Computing unit, holding Windows OEM, Surface, and gaming, took a hit overall, down by 7 percent. Analysts opine that this dip could be attributed to the generally dismal performance of the broader PC market in 2016.

Thus, while navigating through highs and lows, Microsoft’s financial performance holds promise and reflects robust growth in key business sectors. With trends favoring cloud computing and social networks, the company’s strategic investments might witness steady growth in the coming quarters.