Microsoft’s Cloud fuels growth in Q3 2022

Microsoft announced its financial results for the quarter, which ended on March 31, 2022, and the figures boasted an increase compared to the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year. Its revenue of $49.4 billion records an increase of 18%, and its net income of $16.7 billion records an increase of 8%. The company attributes a chunk of the recorded growth to the cloud, with the 29% increase in server and cloud services revenue and a 32% leap in Microsoft cloud. 

These figures topped the projections of analysis, Bloomberg wrote. By building Microsoft’s main cloud businesses, Azure and net-based Office into steady growing engines, the company was insulated from the supply-chain challenges which hurt the PCs and Xbox console’s availability. 

The 49% growth rate of Azure (in constant currency terms) is better than forecast, said Amy Hood, Chief Financial Officer. The strength of commercial bookings as a measure of revenue in the future was acknowledged by the company with multi-year deals. She also said that contract renewals are indicative of the satisfaction of clients with the company’s cloud products. Hood projects that Azure’s revenue growth will be 2% slower in Q4 compared to the past period. 

Further, Xbox had brought in more income than Switch or PS5 in its March sale, recording its best performance in more than a decade. Xbox hardware revenue is up by 14% as the company managed to bring more console supplies into the market, said Hood. 

Further, for the past 12 months, subscribers on Xbox Game Pass have played 45% more, which equates to “billions of hours.” CEO Satya Nadella also boasted that 10 million people have used Microsoft’s cloud to stream games. 

Other highlights are as follows: 

• Windows 11 is being adopted by enterprises at a much better pace compared to any past release, Nadella said. 
• LinkedIn is still growing, with a 34% increase this year from the last record of 37%.  
• Subscribers for Microsoft 365 increased to 58.4 million.
• Office 365 Commercial revenue recorded an increase of 17%. 
• Surface revenue is up by 13%. 
• Windows OEM revenue is up by 11%.