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Microsoft is still a relentless money-making machine
Its net income was a whopping 30 percent higher than last year.
As usual, Microsoft’s latest earnings report for Q1 2021 paints a rosy picture. The company reported revenues of $37.2 billion, up 12 percent from last year, with a net profit of $13.9 billion, an impressive 30 percent jump. The big takeaway: The pandemic isn’t hurting Microsoft at all — in fact, it’s likely pushing the company’s successful cloud and computing offerings even further. The company says its overall cloud business was up 20 percent, reaching $13 billion, and its productivity and business processes group, which includes Office, rose 11 percent to reach $12.3 billion.
During Microsoft’s last earnings report, we noted that its Xbox and Surface business rose faster than usual as the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the way we lived. They’re still trucking along steadily — Xbox business is up 30 percent, while Surface has grown by 37 percent — but the gaming group is grown about half as fast as last quarter. That makes sense, though: Many gamers were likely sitting tight to nab an Xbox Series X or S pre-order, which were only available for one week in Q1. Microsoft’s Surface sales are also 10 percent higher than the previous quarter, which could be due to the need for more PCs as virtual schooling kicked off.
