Microsoft's fiscal results for Q4 2024 sees AI, cloud tech, and gaming the most profitable areas

For the Q4 of the 2024 fiscal year, which ended in June, Microsoft announced $64.7 billion in revenue. This is 15% more than the $56.2 billion they made at the same time last year.

And their net income? That went up to $22 billion, a 10% increase from the previous year’s $20.1 billion. Both numbers show Microsoft’s strong performance and exceed the expectations set by financial analysts.

However, not everything was perfect. Even with these prominent figures, Microsoft’s stock suddenly dropped, dropping more than 5% in after-hours trade. The reason for this downturn was pointed towards the firm’s cloud services like Azure; they grew by 29% but didn’t meet the 31% growth that analysts predicted. It is a reminder that even tiny misses can result in significant reactions in the severe game of tech.

But we shouldn’t just focus on the downsides. According to the official announcement, the company’s Productivity and Business Processes divisions, which sell office software, saw revenue rise by 11% to $20.3 billion.

The More Personal Computing division covers Windows, devices, and gaming and was not far off, increasing at 14%, up to $15.9 billion.

Another point to mention was the Xbox revenue, which saw a significant boost of 61% due to the purchase of Activision Blizzard. Nevertheless, it was not entirely positive news because device income decreased by 11%.

What do the results of the 2024 Q4 fiscal year mean for Microsoft? The company is still experiencing strong growth, especially in cloud computing and gaming. Yet, the small cloud revenue growth miss and the subsequent drop in stock price remind us that even tech giants have difficulties keeping up their pace and meeting market expectations.

In the future, Microsoft’s introduction of its consumer Surface Laptop 7 and Surface Pro 11 PCs might change the situation even more. Will these fresh gadgets help compensate for the decrease in device earnings? We can only wait and see, but one fact is particular: Microsoft continues to be an essential part of the technology business, and its actions are always interesting to observe.