Microsoft posts almost $50B in quarterly income, beats expectations on account of cloud development

Continued growth in Microsoft’s cloud business boosted its quarterly revenue to $49.4 billion, up 18%, with profits of $16.7 billion, up 8%, beating Wall Street’s expectations with earnings per share of $2.22.

Here are initial highlights from the company’s results for the three months ended March 31, the third quarter of the Redmond company’s 2022 fiscal year.

• Microsoft Cloud revenue reached $23.4 billion, up 32% year-over-year.
• Growth in the company’s Office business led to a 17% increase in revenue in Microsoft’s Productivity and Business Processes Division, to $15.8 billion.
• An increase in the Windows Commercial business helped to fuel an 11% increase in revenue in the company’s More Personal Computing division, to $15.5 billion.
• Revenue from search and news advertising topped $2.9 billion, up 22% year-over-year.
• LinkedIn revenue was $3.4 billion, up 34% for the quarter.
• Devices revenue, including the Microsoft Surface hardware business, was up 10% to a total of more than $1.7 billion for the quarter.

Adjusting for the impact of foreign currency exchange rates and the acquisition of Nuance Communications, analysts were expecting the company to post about $2.15 in earnings per share, compared with the $2.22 that Microsoft reported.

The results come amid a busy week for tech earnings, with Apple and Amazon among the companies reporting their numbers later this week.