Software mainstay spent $19 billion in the past quarter as it bet heavily on advancing its positions in the fiercely-competitive AI race.
- Microsoft stock MSFT tumbled as much as 8% in after-hours trading before investors scooped up some of that discounted shares and erased about half of the implied loss at the opening bell Wednesday. The software giant released its spring-quarter earnings data, showing that spending skyrocketed (thanks, AI), while revenue in one key area (again AI) actually took a dive on a quarterly basis.
- Microsoft’s AI-powered cloud business, Azure, grew 29% in the three months to June, a slight drop from the 31% growth in the previous quarter. The company’s Intelligent Cloud unit, which includes the Azure public cloud, brought in $28.5 billion in quarterly revenue, up 19%, but feeling like a letdown to investors who were hungry for more. Overall revenue landed at $64.7 billion, up 15% year-over-year and just above consensus calls for $64.4 billion.
- Earnings per share arrived at $2.95 for the trimester, the company’s fiscal fourth quarter, up 15% from last year’s $2.69 and slightly over projections for $2.94 per-share earnings. The software mainstay scratched off $19 billion as capital expenditures, a whopping 80% rise from the year-ago quarter and an indication of how expensive it is to participate in the race for dominance in the AI space.
