Microsoft profit rises on shift to cloud computing

Microsoft on Thursday reported that its quarterly profit climbed to US$6.5 billion, lifted with its shift to cloud computing services hosted in the internet cloud.

The US technology Giant said earnings in the recently ended quarter climbed to US$23.3 billion, using US$7.4 billion of that because of its "intelligent cloud" offerings.

"Innovation Across our cloud platforms drove strong results this quarter," Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said in a release.

"Clients Are seeking to Microsoft and our thriving partner ecosystem to quicken their very own electronic transformations and to unlock new chance in this era of intelligent cloud and smart edge."

Microsoft also Stated that cloud-based products like Office 365 climbed in the quarter, together with the number of Office 365 subscribers rising to 27 million.

The quarterly Microsoft shares were up just over a per cent to US$75.05 in after-market trades that followed release of the earnings report.

Microsoft said Early this month that it was cutting an unspecified number of jobs amid reports the US tech giant was reorganizing its global sales operations.

The pioneering

It is seeking to be a first port-of-call for businesses relying on cloud computing, as the industry moves away from packaged software.

Microsoft's cloud

Each of the Companies has also been investing in artificial intelligence which can make services hosted in the online cloud more intuitive and insightful in regards to handling data or catering to needs of users.

Becoming 'Microcloud'Analysts were keen To learn more about the latest job cutting plan during an earnings call on Thursday.

Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft has announced thousands of jobs cuts recently, the most severe being 18,000 positions eliminated in 2014 related to its acquisition of Nokia and failed efforts in the smartphone market.

Cloud, business,

Revenue essentially doubled from Microsoft's cloud platform Azure, which has an advantage over rivals operated by Amazon and Google because huge numbers of businesses are already using Microsoft software in-house, the analyst said.

Microsoft also saw impressive growth at Dynamics, its cloud service for managing sales teams that competes with the likes of Salesforce.

Money and growth going forward is not in the personal computing area, it's in the other areas," Mr Gold said.

"Which is why It is so important for Microsoft to be in the cloud and so far they have been killing it. I would practically change the name from Microsoft into 'Microcloud' because they will continue down that path."