Microsoft Sales Lifted by Cloud Computing<br />Microsoft’s overall revenue last quarter rose to $28.92 billion, up 12 percent from the same period a year earlier, as everything from its Office applications business<br />and Xbox gaming console — both buoyed by cloud computing services — showed growth.<br />The company reported a net loss, including the tax charge, of $6.3 billion, or 82 cents<br />a share, down from net income of $6.27 billion, or 80 cents a share, a year earlier.<br />The portion of Microsoft’s cloud business that involves selling to companies — called commercial<br />cloud — grew 56 percent, to $5.3 billion, in the quarter that ended on Dec. 31.<br />Like many legacy software companies that cater to the huge corporate computing market, Microsoft was caught off guard by the emergence of cloud computing in the form of online storage<br />and computing services offered by the internet retailer Amazon.<br />SEATTLE — Microsoft has spent years adjusting its business to reflect a shift from traditional<br />software sales to cloud computing services delivered over the internet.<br />The report was blemished by a charge of $13.8 billion related to recent changes<br />in tax law in the United States, which caused Microsoft to report a net loss.<br />But putting aside the tax-related charge, which was widely expected<br />and will probably impact other tech companies, Microsoft’s business showed the kind of growth that has attracted investors in recent years.
