Microsoft earnings exceeded analyst expectations in the quarter ended September 30, 2026, as Azure revenue grew 48% from a year earlier. Shares rose more than 5% on Wednesday afternoon after the results were released.

Key Takeaways

  • Revenue rose 19% to $92.3 billion, while net income increased 32% to $36.6 billion.
  • Microsoft spent $39.4 billion on additions to property and equipment, roughly double the year-earlier amount.
  • The company recently offered voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees.

Microsoft earnings exceed expectations

In its fiscal first-quarter results, Microsoft reported $92.3 billion in revenue and $36.6 billion in net income. Analysts had expected approximately $90.6 billion in revenue and $35.1 billion in profit, according to FactSet.

Diluted earnings per share rose 32% to $4.92 on a generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP, basis. Net income included a $207 million gain from investments in OpenAI, compared with a $3.1 billion loss in the year-earlier quarter. Excluding the investment impact, net income rose 18% to $36.4 billion.

Azure growth and investment spending

Azure revenue reached $33.2 billion in the September quarter. Broader Microsoft Cloud revenue, which includes other cloud services, rose 30% to $63.9 billion.

Additions to property and equipment totaled $39.367 billion, compared with $19.394 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. The spending increase comes as Microsoft invests heavily in artificial intelligence and competes with Amazon Web Services and Google for cloud customers.

Buyouts follow earlier offer

The results came days after Microsoft offered voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees. It was the company’s second such offer in 2026, following an April offer of early retirement to 7% of its US workforce.

Microsoft had 223,000 employees globally at the end of June, down from 228,000 at the end of 2025.

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