Cloud boosts Microsoft’s strong third quarter

Microsoft posted strong results across the board for its third quarter of 2022, with total revenue increasing by 18% year-over-year to $49.4 billion, thanks in large part to continued growth of its cloud products. Net income for the quarter was $16.7 billion.

Microsoft bundles its Azure public cloud services, SQL Server, Windows Server and enterprise services together as Intelligent Cloud, which drove revenue of $19.1 billion in the quarter, increasing by 26% year-on-year. Azure and other cloud services alone jumped 46% in the quarter.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told analysts that “it was a record third quarter,” thanks in large part to “the continued strength of the Microsoft Cloud.”

Nadella also said that enterprises are adopting Windows 11 at a higher pace than any previous release of the operating system, as illustrated by the 11% growth for its personal computing division, which generated $14.5 billion in revenue.

Revenue driven by enterprise productivity software, including Office 365, was up 12% for the quarter and the number of Office 365 consumer subscribers reached 58.4 million, which is 8 million more than this time last year.

Despite the strong results, Microsoft CFO Amy Hood said the company was anticipating the ongoing war in Ukraine to continue to impact business towards the end of the financial year, with a “roughly $110 million impact” on revenue but “minimal impact” on operating expenses.