{
  "id": 17018000,
  "title": "Microsoft beats estimates with US$92.3b revenue, fuelled by Azure cloud business; shares rise 5pc",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/29/microsoft-beats-estimates-with-us-92-3b-revenue-fuelled-by-azure",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-10-29T05:39:30.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Malay Mail",
    "slug": "malay-mail-malaymail",
    "url": "https://www.malaymail.com/news/money/2026/10/29/microsoft-beats-estimates-with-us923b-revenue-fuelled-by-azure-cloud-business-shares-rise-5pc/241105"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Microsoft's shares surged more than five percent after it released better-than-expected revenue and profit figures for the September quarter. The technology giant reported a total revenue of $92.3 billion and a profit of over $36.6 billion. This growth was primarily driven by its Azure cloud computing division, which saw a 48 percent increase. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella expressed satisfaction, stating that the company is providing enhanced capabilities, choices, control, and cost-efficiency for customers. This earnings report follows Microsoft's recent voluntary buyout of about 60,000 employees, roughly a quarter of its workforce, to support AI investment efforts. The company employs 223,000 globally, down from 228,000 at the end of 2025. Microsoft also unveiled the Surface Ultra laptop, which runs on Nvidia's AI chips and costs over $2,500, as part of a trend of tech companies developing hardware capable of on-device and offline AI computing. Analysts anticipate Microsoft to spend $51 billion on AI-related expenses between July and September, nearly doubling its investment in \"property and equipment\" to $39 billion. The company has opened 24 new data centers worldwide, with overall capital expenditures reaching $45.2 billion, with a significant portion allocated to short-lived assets such as memory chips and storage. Microsoft faces competition from Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Alphabet's Google Cloud in the cloud computing market, with AWS currently leading in global revenue. However, Google recently reported that its cloud division's revenue doubled to $30.7 billion, narrowing the gap with Microsoft's Azure. Microsoft expects to spend over $50 billion on capital expenditures in the final quarter of 2026, bringing its total annual spending to $170 billion. The company's CFO, Amy Hood, mentioned that Microsoft will seek additional funding if necessary to support AI growth. Alphabet and Facebook's Meta have also announced significant AI-related financial moves, raising $85 billion and $35 billion through equity offerings, respectively, to support AI expansion.",
  "summary": "SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 29 — Microsoft shares popped more than five per cent yesterday afternoon after it reported bett...",
  "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."
}