Microsoft reported Q4 2020 revenue of $38 billion USD (roughly $51 billion CAD), net income of $11.2 billion USD (about $15 billion CAD) and earnings per share of $1.46. The company’s fourth quarter ended on June 30th.
To compare, in Q4 2019, Microsoft saw $33.7 billion (roughly, $45.2 billon CAD) revenue, net income of $13.2 billion (roughly, 17.8 billion CAD) and earnings per share of $1.71.
Further, all three of Microsoft’s operating groups saw year-over-year growth.
It’s worth noting that Microsoft is among the first of the tech giants to report quarterly results after a full quarter during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Q3, Microsoft said the pandemic had a “minimal” impact on its revenue. In Q4, the company says that “similar business trends to the previous quarter continued.”
It will be interesting to see how the other tech giants fare. Unlike Microsoft, which generates most of its revenue from software and cloud industries, tech giants like Google and Facebook generate revenue from advertising. It’s possible advertising-based companies won’t weather the pandemic as well.
Microsoft beat analysts’ expectations of $36.5 billion USD ($48.9 billion CAD) revenue and $1.37 earnings per share. Additionally, the company returned $8.9 billion USD (roughly, 11.9 billion CAD) to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends during the quarter.
The company’s Azure revenue saw a 47 percent increase, signalling slowing growth. Although slowing growth is expected at Azure’s size, it appears the pandemic is accelerating the trend.
Microsoft’s LinkedIn also suffered because of the pandemic. Yesterday, the employment-focused website announced it was cutting about 6 percent of its global workforce. The social network suffered thanks to the weak job market and a reduction in advertising spending.
However, according to Microsoft, Windows OEM, Surface and Gaming all benefited from increased demand to support increases in work-, play- and learn-from-home situations.
Source: Microsoft
MobileSyrup may earn a commission from purchases made via our links, which helps fund the journalism we provide free on our website. These links do not influence our editorial content. Support us here.
