Microsoft’s second fiscal quarter revenue rose 2% to $52.7 billion, slightly below Wall Street expectations. Earnings were down 7% to $17.4 billion. Special costs associated with layoffs are not taken into account. It was cited in last week’s announcement of the cuts.
The company reported strong performance in some of its enterprise products and services, with Microsoft Cloud revenue growing 22% to $27.1 billion.
However, revenue in the division that includes Microsoft Windows, Xbox and Devices fell 19% to $14.2 billion. This includes a 39% decline in its device business, which includes Microsoft Surface tablets and computers.
Microsoft shares rose nearly 4% in long-term trading following the report.
The earnings report follows last week’s announcement that the company would cut 10,000 jobs, or about 5% of its workforce, part of a wave of layoffs across the tech industry that began last fall.
Microsoft was the first major technology company to report earnings for the quarter ended December 31, and the results are being followed by investors as a broader measure of corporate technology spending. Microsoft’s main rivals in the cloud, companies such as Amazon and Google, are expected to report on their results next week.
In connection with the job cuts, Microsoft said ahead of its earnings call that it is charging $1.2 billion in the quarter, or 12 cents per share, to account for a severance package for laid-off employees. I was. Real estate leasing and unspecified changes in the hardware portfolio.
Excluding that charge, Microsoft’s earnings were $2.32 per share, down 6%. By the same standards, analysts had expected the company to report earnings of $2.30 per share for him, with earnings of about $53 billion.
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