Commercial cloud revenue grew 88 per cent driven by Office 365, Azure and Dynamics CRM Online and is now on an annualized revenue run rate of over $8 billion. Microsoft’s sales of phone hardware grew, but revenue from Lumia smartphones declined because of increased sales of cheaper devices. Sales were $22.2 billion. Excluding the effect of currency fluctuations, revenue would have declined 2 per cent. The integration and restructuring costs totaled $8.4 billion during Q4.
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Excluding the Nokia charges, the software giant said its operating income for the quarter would have been $6.4bn, with earnings per share amounting to $0.62.
With Microsoft’s mobile range still struggling to gain market share and a $7.5 billion write-off pushing the books into the red, it’s hard to see the company’s Nokia acquisition as anything other than a bad mistake.
Under Nadella, Microsoft has refocused on cloud products and productivity applications. ‘And the upcoming release of Windows 10 will create new opportunities for Microsoft and our ecosystem. Three other senior leaders, including Mark Penn, a former adviser of President Bill Clinton, are also leaving the company. The firms is booked to effectively roll Windows 10 on July 29, a much-awaited initiate following a tiresome reaction to Windows 6.
Microsoft Corp. has reported a record quarterly loss for their financial fourth quarter off the back of the write down of their mobile phone business, but still delivered some positives in terms of revenue growth among many divisions, including their cloud offerings.
Meanwhile, Apple said that shipments for the iPhone came in at 47.5 million and the iPad sipped 10.9 million units.
Under Nadella, Microsoft has refocused on corporate software and tools. Azure revenue was up “triple digits” year on year, and Dynamics CRM Online’s install base has grown by almost two and a half times.
Microsoft is “absolutely on track” to hit that $20 billion figure, said Chris Suh, General Manager of Investor Relations. Xbox revenue alone is up 27 percent.
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Microsoft revenue for its Device and Consumer segment went down by 13% to $8.7 billion. That matched analysts’ average projection. This included a 22 percent fall in Windows revenues with OEMs, due to the end of the XP replacement cycle and manufacturers awaiting the launch of Windows 10. How else do you make money when you sell your phone business, and your most famous brand is associated with sinking PC sales? Analysts had expected $3.25 billion. “Enterprise demand is continuing to crank along – that’s a bright spot”.
