Microsoft beats expectations fueled by Azure cloud business

Microsoft shares rose more than 5% on Wednesday afternoon following a quarterly earnings report that exceeded analyst expectations. The company recorded US$92.3 billion in total revenue and more than US$36.6 billion in profit, surpassing FactSet analyst projections of approximately US$90.6 billion in revenue and US$35.1 billion in profit.

This growth was driven by the Azure cloud computing division, which grew by 48% during the September quarter. Economic Times Tech noted that Google reported its cloud division revenue doubled to $30.7 billion during the same period, narrowing the gap with Azure.

The financial results arrive shortly after Microsoft offered voluntary buyouts to approximately 60,000 employees, representing about a quarter of its workforce, as the company makes heavy investments in artificial intelligence. According to Straits Times Business and Free Malaysia Today, this is the second voluntary buyout offered this year, following an April offer that gave 7% of the US workforce the option to retire early.

Regulatory filings show Microsoft had 223,000 employees globally at the end of June, a decrease from 228,000 at the end of 2025.

Brief written by urgent.news from Economic Times Tech, Straits Times Business, Free Malaysia Today — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.