(Reuters) – Microsoft Corp beat Wall Street expectations for quarterly revenue on Tuesday, as demand soared for the software giant’s cloud-based services from businesses adopting hybrid work models.
Demand for cloud services provided by Microsoft, Amazon.com Inc’s AWS and Alphabet Inc-owned Google Cloud has surged since last year when the COVID-19 pandemic shut offices and schools, pushing more activity online.
Microsoft said revenue in its “Intelligent Cloud” segment, which includes Azure, rose 31% to $17 billion. Analysts had expected a figure of $16.58 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
“We delivered a strong start to the fiscal year with our Microsoft Cloud generating $20.7 billion in revenue for the quarter, up 36% year over year,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft.
The company’s revenue rose to $45.32 billion in the first quarter ended Sept. 30, from $37.15 billion a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected revenue of about $43.97 billion.
(Reporting by Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Aditya Soni)
