Microsoft has published the results corresponding to the second quarter of the fiscal year 2022 (that is, the months of October, November and December 2021). The data is much better than what analysts and Microsoft itself predicted, reaching some revenue of $51.7 billion20% more than in the same period of 2020. The profit is 18,800 million.
Especially relevant has been the growth of the division “More Personal Computing”, which includes Windows, Surface, Xbox and Bing licenses. Here Microsoft reports a profit of 17,470 million dollarswhich means a 15% increase compared to the same period in 2020.
Microsoft grows more than it predicted
Breaking down the different members of this division, this is the growth experienced by its profits (compared to the previous year):
- Windows OEM: 25%
- Commercial Windows products and cloud services: 13/14%.
- Surface: 8%.
- Xbox content and services: 10%.
- Search advertising and news: 32%.
The impact of Windows 11
There are several things to comment on here. The first is related to the significant growth of the “Windows OEM” section, obviously related to the Windows 11 launch campaign. This 25% is driven by device sales in the last quarter of 2022, of which a large number they came with Windows 11 under their arms.
Surface and Xbox continue to rise
microsoft Surfaceon the other hand, has lived a unexpected 8% rise. We say unexpected because Microsoft itself foresaw a slight drop in this section in October due to lack of supplies. Those of Redmond affirm that these benefits are driven mainly by the Surface Laptop.
The growth of Xbox and associated services has been of an acceptable 10%, influenced by global supply problems. Both Game Pass and hardware sales are in very good health and it seems that Microsoft is better positioned than ever in the “gaming war”.
Advertising profits growing at a fast pace
We can’t stop talking about spectacular 32% growth of the “search advertising and news” section. This section comes from growing in similar figures (even somewhat higher) in the two previous periods, specifically since the months of April, May and June 2021.
Here the positive influence of the introduction of the “News and Interests” widget in Windows 10, as well as the Widgets section in Windows 11 (which fulfills a similar function), seems clear. In addition, the success of the new Microsoft Edge, with Bing as the default search engine, also contributes to this growth.
Microsoft 365 has no ceiling
Finally, the “Windows Commercial Products” section, of which Microsoft 365 is a part, experienced a significant 14% increase. Especially good was the data of monthly Microsoft 365 subscriberswhich grew to 56.4 million, a 20% increase compared to last year.