Microsoft Corp. has posted a revenue of $30.6 billion for the first quarter (Q1) of the year, marking an increase of 14 per cent over the corresponding period of 2018.

Operating income was $10.3 billion and increased 25 per cent, while net income was $8.8 billion reflecting a rise of 19 per cent. Diluted earnings per share was $1.14 and increased 20 per cent.

“Leading organizations of every size in every industry trust the Microsoft cloud. We are accelerating our innovation across the cloud and edge so our customers can build the digital capability increasingly required to compete and grow,” said Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.

Microsoft returned $7.4 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends in the third quarter of fiscal year 2019.

“Demand for our cloud offerings drove commercial cloud revenue to $9.6 billion this quarter, up 41 per cent year-over-year,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft. “We continue to drive growth in revenue and operating income with consistent execution from our sales teams and partners and targeted strategic investments.”

Revenue in Productivity and Business Processes was $10.2 billion and increased 14 per cent (up 15 per cent in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

•    Office Commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 12 per cent (up 14 per cent in constant currency) driven by Office 365 Commercial revenue growth of 30 per cent (up 31 per cent in constant currency)

•    Office Consumer products and cloud services revenue increased 8 per cent (up 10 per cent in constant currency) and Office 365 Consumer subscribers increased to 34.2 million

•    LinkedIn revenue increased 27 per cent (up 29 per cent in constant currency) with record levels of engagement highlighted by LinkedIn sessions growth of 24 per cent

•    Dynamics products and cloud services revenue increased 13 per cent (up 15 per cent in constant currency) driven by Dynamics 365 revenue growth of 43 per cent (up 44 per cent in constant currency)

Revenue in Intelligent Cloud was $9.7 billion and increased 22 per cent (up 24 per cent in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

•    Server products and cloud services revenue increased 27 per cent (up 29 per cent in constant currency) driven by Azure revenue growth of 73 per cent (up 75 per cent in constant currency)

•    Enterprise Services revenue increased 4 per cent (up 5 per cent in constant currency)

Revenue in More Personal Computing was $10.7 billion and increased 8 per cent (up 9 per cent in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

•    Windows OEM revenue increased 9 per cent (up 9 per cent in constant currency)

•    Windows Commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 18 per cent (up 20 per cent in constant currency)

•    Surface revenue increased 21 per cent (up 25 per cent in constant currency)

•    Gaming revenue increased 5 per cent (up 7 per cent in constant currency) driven by Xbox software and services revenue growth of 12 per cent (up 15 per cent in constant currency)

•    Search advertising revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs increased 12 per cent (up 14 per cent in constant currency)

Every quarter Microsoft delivers hundreds of products, either as new releases, services, or enhancements to current products and services. These releases are a result of significant research and development investments, made over multiple years, designed to help customers be more productive and secure and to deliver differentiated value across the cloud and the edge, a statement said. – TradeArabia News Service