{
  "id": 16981056,
  "title": "Microsoft’s profit jumps 32% despite big increase in spending",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/28/microsofts-profit-jumps-32-despite-big-increase-in-spending",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-10-28T23:31:55.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Straits Times Business",
    "slug": "straits-times-business",
    "url": "https://www.straitstimes.com/business/microsofts-profit-jumps-32-despite-big-increase-in-spending"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Microsoft reported a 32% increase in profit, reaching $36.6 billion, in the third quarter of 2026, despite spending 30% more on capital expenditures. The company's cloud computing service, Azure, saw a 48% increase in sales to $33.2 billion. Microsoft expects Azure's growth to accelerate to between 49% and 50% in the current quarter. The company added 24 data centers across five continents during the quarter, driven by increasing demand. Microsoft also offered buyouts to about 60,000 workers, roughly a quarter of its workforce. Despite the increased spending on AI, Microsoft's free cash flow remained positive at $18.6 billion.",
  "summary": "It spent US$45.2 billion on capital expenditures in the three months that ended in September.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}