Microsoft 21Q4 earnings: $46.2 billion in revenue backed by strong cloud and Office growth

Microsoft today announced its quarterly earnings for the fourth and final quarter of the fiscal year 2021 ending June 30, 2021. The company made a staggering $46.2 billion in revenue, growing 21% (17% in Constant Currency (CC)) over the same quarter last year – or Year over Year (YoY) – and beating analysts’ expectations. Operating income for the quarter was $19.1 billion, a 42% increase (35% in CC) YoY. Net income stood at $16.5 billion, which was an impressive increase of 47% (40% in CC) over the same quarter last year. Diluted earnings per share was $2.17 and was up by 49%

As it usually does, the company has segregated these earnings into three main business categories: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The Productivity and Business Processes unit recorded a revenue of $14.7 billion, growing by 25% YoY (21% in CC). Intelligent Cloud pulled in $17.4 billion, up 30% YoY (26% in CC), and More Personal Computing accounted for $14.1 billion, an increase of 9% YoY (6% in CC).

The Productivity and Business Processes bracket holds commercial and consumer productivity offerings like Office, LinkedIn, and Dynamics. Office Commercial products and cloud services saw a 20% increase in revenue (up 15% in CC), thanks in part to a 35% increase in Office 365 Commercial revenues. Consumer Office offerings also saw an 18% growth (15% in CC), with Microsoft 365 consumer seats increasing to 51.9 million. Revenue from LinkedIn and Dynamics services and products were up 46% (42% in CC) and 33% (up 26% in CC), respectively.

The Intelligent Cloud business unit houses mostly Azure and other server products and offerings. Azure revenue itself grew by 51% YoY (45% in CC), with “server products and cloud services revenue growing by 34% (29% in CC), amounting to $3.9 billion. Additionally, Enterprise Mobility installed base grew 19% to over 190 million seats. Premier Support and Microsoft Consulting Services (a recent addition) grew by 12% YoY.

Next up is the More Personal Computing business unit. This section houses the likes of Windows, Surface, Xbox, and more. The growth in revenue for this unit was thanks to strong Search advertising, Microsoft says. While Windows Commercial products grew 20% (14% in CC), Windows OEM Pro and non-Pro revenues dipped 2% and 4%, respectively. The firm blamed the fall on the supply chain constraints, which also caused a 20% drop in Surface Revenue.

Gaming revenue, however, grew by 11% (7% in CC), with hardware revenues increasing by 172% YoY (163% in CC). Xbox content and services were down 4%, but that was being compared to a much stronger baseline last year. Search advertising grew 53% YoY, but it was on a smaller base last year.

Since these were Q4 earnings, the firm also provided the earnings report for the fiscal year. Overall revenue for FY21 stood at $168.1 billion, growing 18% over last year (15% in CC). Net income stood at $61.3 billion ($60.7 billion in CC) which was up 38% (37% in CC).