Microsoft reports 20.1 billion dollar quarterly profit and pledges to lead on AI

Microsoft on Tuesday reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit of 20.1 billion dollars (£15.6 billion), or 2.69 dollars (£2.09) per share, beating analyst expectations for 2.55 dollars (£1.98) per share.

It posted revenue of 56.2 billion dollars (£43.5 billion) in the April-June period, up 8% from last year. Analysts had been looking for revenue of 55.49 billion dollars (£43.1 billion), according to FactSet Research.

Chief executive Satya Nadella said the company remains focused on “leading the new AI platform shift”.

“Organisations are asking not only how – but how fast – they can apply this next generation of AI to address the biggest opportunities and challenges they face – safely and responsibly,” he said in a statement.

Microsoft was an early mover in this year’s hype around “generative AI” tools that can help people write documents and create new images and other media.

It capitalised on its multibillion-dollar investments in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI to launch a chatbot for Microsoft’s Bing search engine and similar tools tailored to its business customers.

Macquarie analyst Sarah Hindlian-Bowler said investors have been focused on Microsoft’s early revenue from those AI investments, the performance of the Azure cloud computing platform and the likelihood that Microsoft will close its deal to buy video game company Activision Blizzard, which could help boost gaming revenue and drive more users to the Xbox game system and other Microsoft platforms.

More than 18 months after announcing the 69 billion dollar (£53.6 billion) deal, Microsoft is still negotiating with a British antitrust regulator over concerns it will harm competition.

The US Federal Trade Commission also opposed the transaction but lost a court fight to stop it.

“We still expect a successful close as the company works toward an amenable solution that satisfies the UK’s concerns,” Ms Hindlian-Bowler said in an analyst note ahead of Tuesday’s earnings.

Microsoft does not reveal the total revenue for its Azure business, though a document inadvertently disclosed during its recent court fight with the FTC showed it as 34 billion dollars (£26.4 billion) last year, Ms Hindlian-Bowler said. Microsoft has declined to comment on that number.

While AI has captivated the attention of the public and investors, Microsoft is also still heavily reliant on its personal computing business centred around the licensing fees paid by the makers of computers running its Windows software.

Worldwide PC sales in the April-June quarter dropped 16.6% from the same time last year, marking the seventh consecutive quarter of year-over-year decline, according to market research group Gartner. However, the market is starting to stabilise and demand could grow again in 2024, Gartner said.

Microsoft has laid off hundreds of workers in recent months, including many around its headquarters in Redmond, Washington, according to notices it sent to government agencies. That is on top of the 10,000 employees, almost 5% of its workforce, that it cut earlier this year.