
Microsoft reports strong profit, stock rises
Tech giant Microsoft has reported a revenue of $61.9 billion in the first quarter of the year, about $1 billion more than expected by the market, a 17% increase from the same quarter last year. The company’s earnings have also risen by 20%, resulting in a profit of $21.9 billion. Significant investments in artificial intelligence have spurred the company’s growth in both revenue and profit, particularly through the launch of AI in numerous software products. The cloud services, especially Azure, have become core to Microsoft’s business, with the overall cloud business growing by 24% and Azure alone by 31%. Collaborations with AI firms like OpenAI, which developed ChatGPT, have proven successful and Microsoft plans further AI partnerships, competing with other tech giants. Post-market trading saw Microsoft’s stock rise by over 5%.