Microsoft today announced its first-quarter earnings, beating analyst estimates with revenues of $18.53 billion – a 15.7% increase on its first quarter 2012 revenues. In addition, the company’s earnings per share rose 17% year-on-year.
The company’s enterprise revenue was strong, growing nearly 10% from one year ago. Microsoft’s commercial cloud revenue was particularly strong, rising over 100%.
“We continue to execute well across our businesses and we are seeing robust demand for our enterprise products and cloud services,” said Kevin Turner, COO at Microsoft. “Strong customer adoption of Office 365, Azure, and Dynamics CRM Online is accelerating our business transition to the cloud.”
Microsoft’s “Devices and Consumer” earnings grew over 4% from last year’s quarter, much of it through a nearly 50% increase in search advertising revenue. One rough spot for that category was seen, though, as revenue from its Windows platform declined 7% year-over-year. Microsoft is expecting its updated Windows 8.1 sales this coming quarter to make up for disappointing sales of Windows 8 PCs last holiday season.
“Our devices and services transformation is progressing and we are launching a wide range of compelling products and experiences this fall for both business and consumers,” said Steve Ballmer, CEO at Microsoft. “Our new commercial services will help us continue to outgrow the enterprise market, and we are seeing lots of consumer excitement for Xbox One, Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2, and the full spectrum of Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone devices.”
These fiscal results come as Microsoft, much like the industry it dominated for over a decade, is experiencing large, rapid organizational shifts. CEO Steve Ballmer announced last month that he will be retiring from his long-time post within the next year. That announcement came just months after Ballmer announced a massive reorganization plan for the company, and right in the middle of Microsoft’s much-touted move toward being a “devices and services” company. As part of that initiative, Microsoft recently announced the acquisition of Nokia’s hardware division, which will mean yet another reorganization within the company.