Microsoft reported September quarter-end results yesterday after-hours, and like many other members of big tech, its revenue and earnings slowed amidst Wall Street’s projections. Microsoft Azure, its cloud service business, second only to Amazon Web Services (AWS) in size, saw revenue grow 35% year over year.
Yet, it was still below analysts forecasts and a large drop from 46% growth averaged over the past four quarters.
However, Microsoft’s security portfolio is surging amidst economic uncertainty. CEO Satya Nadella said 860,000 organizations across every industry vertical are using Microsoft’s security products. This is up 33% from a year ago.
Microsoft states that companies are able to save 60% when they choose Microsoft’s security stack.
The average number of workloads are also up across Azure. Customers with more than 4 workloads is up 50% year-over-year.
Revenue rose 11% to $50.1 billion year-over-year compared to the same quarter ending September 30.
Despite a recent rebranding and increased market competition, Microsoft’s commercial Office 365 subscriptions rose 11 percent.
On the decline were sales of Xbox games (down 3 percent), and the Windows operating system (down 15 percent). The drop in Windows operating systems sales is not a surprise as employers rushed to invest in new laptops and other devices during the pandemic.
The current market is considered more stabilized, and the sale bubble of new hardware has peaked.
Microsoft, like other major cloud service providers, are still looking to do more with less. The company is looking to slow operating expenses, and “boost productivity” with its existing hiring efforts.
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