Microsoft Cloud strength fuels second quarter results

REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft Corp. today announced the following results for the quarter ended December 31, 2021, as compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year:

• Revenue was $51.7 billion and increased 20%
• Operating income was $22.2 billion and increased 24%
• Net income was $18.8 billion and increased 21%
• Diluted earnings per share was $2.48 and increased 22%

“Digital technology is the most malleable resource at the world’s disposal to overcome constraints and reimagine everyday work and life,” said Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft. “As tech as a percentage of global GDP continues to increase, we are innovating and investing across diverse and growing markets, with a common underlying technology stack and an operating model that reinforces a common strategy, culture, and sense of purpose.”

“Solid commercial execution, represented by strong bookings growth driven by long-term Azure commitments, increased Microsoft Cloud revenue to $22.1 billion, up 32% year over year” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft.

Business Highlights

Revenue in Productivity and Business Processes was $15.9 billion and increased 19%, with the following business highlights:

• Office Commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 14% driven by Office 365 Commercial revenue growth of 19%
• Office Consumer products and cloud services revenue increased 15% and Microsoft 365 Consumer subscribers grew to 56.4 million
• LinkedIn revenue increased 37% (up 36% in constant currency)
• Dynamics products and cloud services revenue increased 29% driven by Dynamics 365 revenue growth of 45% (up 44% in constant currency)

Revenue in Intelligent Cloud was $18.3 billion and increased 26%, with the following business highlights:

• Server products and cloud services revenue increased 29% driven by Azure and other cloud services revenue growth of 46%

Revenue in More Personal Computing was $17.5 billion and increased 15%, with the following business highlights:

• Windows OEM revenue increased 25%
• Windows Commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 13% (up 14% in constant currency)
• Xbox content and services revenue increased 10%
• Search and news advertising revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs increased 32%
• Surface revenue increased 8%

Microsoft returned $10.9 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends in the second quarter of fiscal year 2022, an increase of 9% compared to the second quarter of fiscal year 2021.

Business Outlook

Microsoft will provide forward-looking guidance in connection with this quarterly earnings announcement on its earnings conference call and webcast.

Quarterly Highlights, Product Releases, and Enhancements

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.

Here are the major product releases and other highlights for the quarter, organized by product categories, to help illustrate how we are accelerating innovation across our businesses while expanding our market opportunities.

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)

To better execute Microsoft’s mission, we focus our Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) efforts where we can have the most positive impact. To learn more about our latest initiatives and priorities, please visit our investor relations ESG website.

Constant Currency

Microsoft presents constant currency information to provide a framework for assessing how our underlying businesses performed excluding the effect of foreign currency rate fluctuations. To present this information, current and comparative prior period results for entities reporting in currencies other than United States dollars are converted into United States dollars using the average exchange rates from the comparative period rather than the actual exchange rates in effect during the respective periods. All growth comparisons relate to the corresponding period in the last fiscal year. Microsoft has provided this non-GAAP financial information to aid investors in better understanding our performance. The non-GAAP financial measures presented in this release should not be considered as a substitute for, or superior to, the measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP.