The company founded by Bill Gates is having an excellent first quarter of 2022 (or rather third quarter for its fiscal year), as shown by the latest financial report aired April 26. This success is mainly linked to its service offer linked to the cloud. The turnover of the multinational increased by 18% compared to the previous year. It hit $49.4 billion in the period ending March 31. Sales of PCs and Xbox consoles are climbing, despite a situation that could deteriorate in the following quarter due to the health situation in China.
Microsoft fully in the cloud
For this quarter, the net profit of the Redmond firm is 16.7 billion dollars, an increase of 8% compared to the previous year. The cloud has largely contributed to the improvement of Microsoft’s financial situation. Under current CEO Satya Nadella, the company has developed this technology extensively through the hugely successful Azure. Azure, the cloud branch of the company, offers various services in the sector of computing power or storage spaces. It experienced a growth in its turnover of 46%.
Meta pays its bets in the first quarter of 2022
Not all of Microsoft’s cloud revenue comes exclusively from Azure. The company also offers the Office suite via the cloud, in its professional version or for individuals. The company does not communicate the respective turnover of these different offers, but overall its entire “Intelligent Cloud” offer brought in $19.1 billion.
The Verge reports that the cloud is also gaining momentum on Xbox. According to the CEO, 10 million people have streamed games through the Xbox Cloud Gaming service. To take advantage of this feature, you must have a subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, priced at € 12.99 per month in France. Difficult to draw financial conclusions, the first month of subscription being 1€ for new users. Additionally, competing services, Stadia and GeForce Now, don’t report their numbers accurately.
Xbox returns to center stage
Side hardware video games, Amy Hood, chief financial officer of Microsoft, specified that the turnover resulting from the sales of Xbox increased by 14%. Console sales significantly exceeded company expectations, reports Bloomberg. Satya Nadella clarified that “ consoles have gained market share over the past two quarters. »
This growth is partly due to the return of the console to the shelves, after the shortage of materials, in particular semiconductors. In March, Xbox broke a new sales record. It had been eleven years since a Microsoft console had sold so well. Unfortunately, the recent lockdowns in China could once again dampen the success of the Xbox Series next quarter.
Concerning the contents and services available on Xbox, they experienced a 4% increase in their turnover. Video games, microtransactions and subscriptions are selling well. Microsoft would aim to add a new string to its bow by including advertisements in free games.
The excellent growth of LinkedIn
LinkedIn is Microsoft’s other flagship service which is also breaking a record. The application for connecting professionals saw its turnover increase by 34% compared to the same quarter last year. The platform, bought by the IT giant in 2016, brought in $3.44 billion.
The January 2022 launch of LinkedIn’s audio and video platform is no stranger to this growth. With these new features, the social network wants to attract new, more creative user profiles. The latest figures report 810 million registered members and the latest financial report shows a 22% increase in active sessions.
Long spared by the antitrust authorities, Microsoft is beginning to arouse fears for its dominant position in several sectors. In early April, the European Commission looked into the growing cloud business of the giant. The latter has even set up a partnership with PlayStation, its main competitor in video games.
In the United States, the consecutive takeovers of several video game behemoths, such as Activision or Bethesda, are worrying market regulators. Management issues at Activision Blizzard put Redmond in a tricky position to make decisions.