Microsoft increases profit by 27 percent in Q3

Compared to the previous year, Microsoft was able to significantly increase both revenue and profit. The biggest driver behind the development is the ongoing trend towards increased cloud usage.

Increase of 27 percent

Quarterly revenue in July, August and September rose 22 percent year-over-year to $45.3 billion. Profit increased even more in percentage terms: It grew by 27 percent to 20.2 billion US dollars. Expectations were thus exceeded in both cases, which had a positive effect on the Group’s share price.

Compared with the previous quarter, the company’s sales remained stable, while profits grew by just over one billion US dollars. Further growth is expected for the quarter that has now begun.

Cloud services drive revenue

Behind the positive development is primarily the trend towards the increased use of cloud services. Here, Microsoft can score points with its Azure platform, which provides other companies with IT services and storage space in a cloud. Microsoft does not provide exact figures for individual services; however, the cloud area makes up the largest single area within the group at 37.5 percent. Here, Microsoft is also benefiting from the pandemic-related boom in location-independent working, which makes recourse to a cloud necessary in many cases.

Revenues generated with LinkedIn, which also belongs to Microsoft, also grew strongly. Advertising revenue here rose by 61 percent. The PC division, which also includes tablet and Xbox sales, also grew; however, at twelve percent, growth here was lower than in the other divisions.