Cloud momentum drives Microsoft financials

Microsoft has announced revenue of US$20.40 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2014, driven by strong cloud momentum across the company.

“This quarter’s results demonstrate the strength of our business, as well as the opportunities we see in a mobile-first, cloud-first world,” says Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft.

“We are making good progress in our consumer services like Bing and Office 365 Home, and our commercial customers continue to embrace our cloud solutions. Both position us well for long-term growth.

“We are focused on executing rapidly and delivering bold, innovative products that people love to use.”

Gross margin, operating income, net income, and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $14.46 billion, $6.97 billion, $5.66 billion, and $0.68 per share, respectively.

“We delivered solid, broad-based financial results driven by strong execution and continued cost discipline,” adds Amy Hood, executive vice president and CFO, Microsoft.

“We are focusing our resources to drive growth and long-term shareholder value.”

Devices and Consumer revenue grew 12% to $8.30 billion…

• Windows OEM revenue grew 4%, driven by strong 19% growth in Windows OEM Pro revenue.

• Office 365 Home now has 4.4 million subscribers, adding nearly 1 million subscribers in just three months.

• Microsoft sold in 2.0 million Xbox console units, including 1.2 million Xbox One consoles.

• Surface revenue grew over 50% to approximately $500 million.

• Bing U.S. search share grew to 18.6% and search advertising revenue grew 38%.

Commercial revenue grew 7% to $12.23 billion…

• Office 365 revenue grew over 100%, and commercial seats nearly doubled, demonstrating strong enterprise momentum for Microsoft’s cloud productivity solutions.

• Azure revenue grew over 150%, and the company has announced more than 40 new features that make the Azure platform more attractive to cloud application developers.

• Windows volume licensing revenue grew 11%, as business customers continue to make Windows their platform of choice.

• Lync, SharePoint, and Exchange, plus the company's productivity server offerings, collectively grew double-digits.

“Our products and services continue to deliver differentiated business value to our customers, and we continue to win share in areas like cloud services, data platform, and infrastructure management,” adds Kevin Turner, COO, Microsoft.

“Our SQL Server business grew double-digits again this quarter, and with the announcements of SQL 2014 and Power BI for Office 365, we offer a unique, comprehensive, end-to-end data and analytics solution.”