Microsoft has recently published an upbeat earnings report that considerably exceeded analysts’ expectations. As it turned out, the company’s economic performance improved significantly despite the coronavirus-driven crisis.
According to the results of the first quarter of the fiscal year 2020 ended on September 30, Microsoft Corp.'s net profit soared by 30% to $13.893 billion or $1.82 per share in annual terms. Last year, the net income came in at $10.678 billion or $1.38 per share, respectively. Revenue jumped by 12% to $37.154 billion, up from $ 33.055 billion a year earlier. All this happened largely thanks to quarantine restrictions. Cloud services and video games were the biggest boost to Microsoft’s revenues. Demand for these services and products increased markedly during the pandemic. For example, the Intelligent Cloud division’s revenue, which includes Azure and production of server software, surged by 20% to $ 13 billion. The More Personal Computing division, which develops the Windows operating system, Xbox game consoles, and Surface devices, brought the company $ 11.8 billion, an increase of 6%.
Microsoft paid off its shareholders $9.5 billion in dividends and share repurchases (+ 21% year-on-year). The company's capitalization has grown by 35.3% to $ 1.59 trillion since the beginning of the year.
