Microsoft cloud strength drives fourth quarter results

Microsoft Corp. today announced the following results for the quarter ended June 30, 2020, as compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year:

  • Revenue was $38.0 billion and increased 13%
  • Operating income was $13.4 billion and increased 8%
  • Net income was $11.2 billion and decreased 15% GAAP (up 5% non-GAAP)
  • Diluted earnings per share was $1.46 and decreased 15% GAAP (up 7% non-GAAP)

"The last five months have made it clear that tech intensity is the key to business resilience. Organizations that build their own digital capability will recover faster and emerge from this crisis stronger," said Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft. "We are the only company with an integrated, modern technology stack - powered by cloud and AI and underpinned by security and compliance - to help every organization transform and reimagine how they meet customer needs."

"Our commercial cloud surpassed $50 billion in annual revenue for the first time this year. And this quarter our Commercial bookings were better than expected, growing 12% year-over-year," said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Microsoft. "As we drive growth across the company, we remain committed to investing in long-term strategic opportunities."

The following table reconciles our financial results reported in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to non-GAAP financial results. Additional information regarding our non-GAAP definition is provided below. All growth comparisons relate to the corresponding period in the last fiscal year.

Three Months Ended June 30,
($ in millions, except per share amounts)RevenueOperating IncomeNet IncomeDiluted Earnings per Share
2019 As Reported (GAAP)$33,717$12,405$13,187_$1.71_
Net Tax Impact of Transfer of Intangible Properties--(2,567)(0.34)
2019 As Adjusted (non-GAAP)$33,717$12,405$10,620_$1.37_
2020 As Reported (GAAP)$38,033$13,407$11,202_$1.46_
Percentage Change Y/Y (GAAP)13%8%(15%)(15%)
Percentage Change Y/Y (non-GAAP)13%8%5%_7%_
Percentage Change Y/Y (non-GAAP) Constant Currency15%12%8%_9%_

GAAP results include a $450 million charge for the closure of the Microsoft Store physical locations in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2020. GAAP results also include a net income tax benefit of $2.6 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2019, which is excluded from our non-GAAP results and explained in the non-GAAP definition section below.

COVID-19 Impact

In the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2020, similar business trends to the previous quarter continued.

In the Productivity and Business Processes and Intelligent Cloud segments, cloud usage and demand increased as customers continued to work and learn from home. Transactional license purchasing continued to slow, particularly in small and medium businesses, and LinkedIn was negatively impacted by the weak job market and reductions in advertising spend.

In the More Personal Computing segment, Windows OEM, Surface, and Gaming benefited from increased demand to support work-, play-, and learn-from-home scenarios, while Search was negatively impacted by reductions in advertising spend.

Business Highlights

Revenue in Productivity and Business Processes was $11.8 billion and increased 6% (up 8% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

  • Office Commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 5% (up 7% in constant currency) driven by Office 365 Commercial revenue growth of 19% (up 22% in constant currency)
  • Office Consumer products and cloud services revenue increased 6% (up 7% in constant currency) and Office 365 Consumer subscribers increased to 42.7 million
  • LinkedIn revenue increased 10% (up 11% in constant currency)
  • Dynamics products and cloud services revenue increased 13% (up 15% in constant currency) driven by Dynamics 365 revenue growth of 38% (up 40% in constant currency)

Revenue in Intelligent Cloud was $13.4 billion and increased 17% (up 19% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

  • Server products and cloud services revenue increased 19% (up 21% in constant currency) driven by Azure revenue growth of 47% (up 50% in constant currency)
  • Enterprise Services revenue was relatively unchanged (up 2% in constant currency)

Revenue in More Personal Computing was $12.9 billion and increased 14% (up 16% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

  • Windows OEM revenue increased 7%
  • Windows Commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 9% (up 11% in constant currency)
  • Xbox content and services revenue increased 65% (up 68% in constant currency)
  • Surface revenue increased 28% (up 30% in constant currency)
  • Search advertising revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs decreased 18% (down 17% in constant currency)

Operating expenses were $12.3 billion and increased 13%, including the $450 million charge for the closure of the Microsoft Store physical locations.

Microsoft returned $8.9 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2020, an increase of 16% compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2019.

Fiscal Year 2020 Results

Microsoft Corp. today announced the following results for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020, as compared to the corresponding period of last fiscal year:

  • Revenue was $143.0 billion and increased 14%
  • Operating income was $53.0 billion and increased 23%
  • Net income was $44.3 billion and increased 13% GAAP and 20% non-GAAP
  • Diluted earnings per share was $5.76 and increased 14% GAAP and 21% non-GAAP

The following table reconciles our financial results reported in accordance with GAAP to non-GAAP financial results. Additional information regarding our non-GAAP definition is provided below. All growth comparisons relate to the corresponding period in the last fiscal year.

Twelve Months Ended June 30,
($ in millions, except per share amounts)RevenueOperating IncomeNet IncomeDiluted Earnings per Share
2019 As Reported (GAAP)$125,843$42,959$39,240_$5.06_
Net Tax Impact of Transfer of Intangible Properties--(2,567)(0.33)
Net Impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA)--157_0.02_
2019 As Adjusted (non-GAAP)$125,843$42,959$36,830_$4.75_
2020 As Reported (GAAP)$143,015$52,959$44,281_$5.76_
Percentage Change Y/Y (GAAP)14%23%13%_14%_
Percentage Change Y/Y (non-GAAP)14%23%20%_21%_
Percentage Change Y/Y (non-GAAP) Constant Currency15%27%24%_25%_

GAAP results include a net income tax benefit of $2.6 billion and a net income tax charge of $157 million for the twelve months ended June 30, 2019. These net tax impacts are excluded from our non-GAAP results and explained in the Non-GAAP Definition section below.

Business Outlook

Microsoft will provide forward-looking guidance in connection with this quarterly earnings announcement on its earnings conference call and webcast.

Responding to COVID-19

At Microsoft, our focus remains on ensuring the safety of our employees, striving to protect the health and well-being of the communities in which we operate, and providing technology and resources to our customers and partners to help them do their best work while remote. Additional information about Microsoft's COVID-19 response can be found here.

Quarterly Highlights, Product Releases, and Enhancements

Every quarter Microsoft delivers hundreds of products, either as new releases, services, or enhancements to current products and services. These releases are a result of significant research and development investments, made over multiple years, designed to help customers be more productive and secure and to deliver differentiated value across the cloud and the edge.

Here are the major product releases and other highlights for the quarter, organized by product categories, to help illustrate how we are accelerating innovation across our businesses while expanding our market opportunities.

Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)

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