MICROSOFT REPORTS $20.1B QUARTERLY PROFIT AS IT PROMISES TO LEAD 'THE NEW AI PLATFORM SHIFT

Microsoft reported a 20% spike in quarterly profits this week, helping to fuel its battle to get ahead of rivals like Google, Amazon and Facebook parent Meta in selling the latest artificial intelligence technology

The software giant said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit was $20.1 billion, or $2.69 per share, beating analyst expectations for $2.55 per share.

It posted revenue of $56.2 billion in the April-June period, up 8% from last year. Analysts polled by FactSet Research had been looking for revenue of $55.49 billion.

CEO Satya Nadella said the company remains focused on “leading the new AI platform shift,” though its push to add AI features to its existing products — among them cloud computing services, workplace software and its Bing search engine — are not yet making an obvious mark on its financial results.

Microsoft was an early mover in this year’s hype around “generative AI” tools that can help people write documents and create new images and other media. It capitalized on its multibillion-dollar investments in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI to launch a Bing chatbot and similar tools tailored to its business customers. It said last week that it would start charging $30 per user for business accounts that sign up for its new AI “Copilot” that integrates with existing software such as Word, Excel and email.

“Organizations are asking not only how – but how fast – they can apply this next generation of AI to address the biggest opportunities and challenges they face – safely and responsibly,” Nadella said in a prepared statement.