Microsoft announces financial results for the second quarter of 2024, with sales increasing 18% year-on-year to 9.15 trillion yen, and with the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, game department sales have surpassed Windows to become the third largest business

Microsoft has announced financial results for the second quarter of 2024 (October to December). Total sales for the same period were $62 billion (approximately 9.15 trillion yen), and sales in the cloud division remained strong due to the increasing popularity of AI services. In addition, with

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/Investor/earnings/FY-2024-Q2/press-release-webcast

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Microsoft's total revenue for the second quarter of 2024 was $62.02 billion, an increase of 18% year-on-year, and its net profit was $21.87 billion (approximately 3.23 trillion yen), an increase of 33% year-on-year. is.

Microsoft's intelligent cloud division's sales increased 20% year on year to $25.88 billion (approximately 3.82 trillion yen), exceeding market analysts' expectations. Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud division includes Azure, SQL Server, Windows Server, Nuance, GitHub, and more. The Intelligent Cloud segment's sales growth rate was 30%, which exceeded analysts' expectations of ``a little more than 27%.''

Amy Hood, Microsoft's head of finance, said that the division's growth is related to AI services. According to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Azure AI has 53,000 customers, one-third of whom used Azure for the first time in the past year.

Microsoft is offering 'Copilot Pro,' a full-featured version of Copilot, an AI assistant that can use generation AI functions, for $20 a month (approximately 3,000 yen), and a corporate version, 'Copilot for Microsoft 365,' for $30 a month (approx. 4400 yen). Regarding this, Mr. Hood said, ``While Microsoft 365 Copilot is still in its early stages, we are already excited about the implementation results to date, and we expect sales of the service to continue to increase over time.'' , has shown expectations for the growth of the paid version of Copilot.

Microsoft announces full-featured version of AI assistant Copilot ``Copilot Pro'', use the latest LLM or build original Copilot for 2,900 yen per month - GIGAZINE

In addition, sales of Microsoft's Productivity and Business Process division, which includes Office products, LinkedIn, and Dynamics , increased 13% year-on-year to $19.25 billion (approximately 2.84 trillion yen).

Sales of commercial Office products and cloud services increased 15% year-on-year due to Office 365, and sales of consumer Office products and cloud services increased 5% year-on-year. The number of Microsoft 365 Consumer subscribers has reached 78.4 million. LinkedIn revenue increased 9% year-over-year, and Dynamics product and cloud services revenue increased 21% year-over-year. The increase in sales of Dynamics products and cloud services was driven by increased sales of Dynamics 365 .

Sales of the More Personal Computing division, which includes Windows, Surface, Xbox, etc., were $16.89 billion (approximately 2.49 trillion yen), an increase of 19% compared to the same period last year.

This quarter marks the first time Microsoft has reported financial results since completing its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Sales of Microsoft's game division (Xbox) recorded a 61% increase compared to the same period last year, finally surpassing Windows sales and growing into the company's third largest business.

Microsoft finally completes acquisition of Activision Blizzard - GIGAZINE

Additionally, Windows sales increased 9% year-on-year, Windows OEM sales increased 11% year-on-year, Windows commercial products and cloud services sales increased 9% year-on-year, and Device Product sales were down 9% year over year, while search, news and advertising sales were up 8% year over year.