Dive Brief:
- Microsoft’s fourth-quarter earnings report released Tuesday beat analysts' expectations, boosted by the company’s cloud business.
- Revenue in Microsoft’s overall cloud business, including its Azure cloud platform and server software, rose 7% year over year in the fourth quarter to $6.7 billion.
- Microsoft’s primary cloud product, Azure, saw revenue more than double this quarter, growing 102% year over year. The company did not reveal the actual revenue numbers.
Dive Insight:
Microsoft has been working hard to catch its primary cloud competitor, Amazon Web Services. The company’s latest results indicate they may be making some headway.
"The Microsoft Cloud is seeing significant customer momentum and we're well-positioned to reach new opportunities in the year ahead," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a release.
The company has shifted focus to its cloud business as well as innovative enterprise and industry offerings as PC sales continue to dwindle.
Last month, Microsoft acquired LinkedIn for $26.2 billion. Then last week, the company announced it was rolling out subscription service offerings for both Windows 10 and Surface. In the past week, the company also announced plans to partner with industry giants Boeing and GE.
Microsoft has also been catching the attention of enterprise customers as it makes a concerted effort to improve its enterprise offerings. Facebook chief information officer Tim Campos praised Microsoft during the company’s partner conference last week as it announced it had chosen to use Office 365. "Microsoft got cool again," Campos said.
