Microsoft tops Wall Street assumption with $81.3B in revenue

Dhaka
January 29, 2026, 10:27 AM
by AP/UNB

UNB News
Dhaka
Publish- January 29, 2026, 10:27 AM
AP/UNB
Update- January 29, 2026, 10:48 AM

Microsoft tops Wall Street assumption with $81.3B in revenue

FILE - A Microsoft logo is displayed outside the company’s French headquarters in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris on May 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)

Microsoft on Wednesday reported revenue of $81.3 billion for the October-December quarter, marking a 17% increase from the same period a year earlier, as the company continues efforts to expand global use of its artificial intelligence tools.

The tech giant posted a net profit of $30.9 billion, or $4.14 per share, for the quarter, exceeding Wall Street expectations. The results did not include the impact of Microsoft’s investments in ChatGPT developer OpenAI.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet Research had projected Microsoft to earn $3.91 per share on revenue of $80.31 billion for the October-December quarter.

When excluding its OpenAI investments, Microsoft’s profit rose to $38.5 billion, or $5.16 per share, reflecting a new accounting approach the company said it plans to apply going forward.

The investments stem from OpenAI’s restructuring last year. Microsoft held an approximately 27% stake, valued at about $135 billion, in OpenAI as the startup originally a nonprofit transitioned into a for-profit public benefit corporation.

Although Microsoft is no longer OpenAI’s exclusive cloud provider, a partnership that helped finance the AI company’s early expansion, it will continue to hold commercial rights to OpenAI products through 2032.

Revenue from Microsoft’s AI-driven cloud computing segment totaled $32.9 billion in the final three months of the year, an increase of 29% from the same period last year and above the $32.4 billion forecast by analysts surveyed by FactSet.

Despite surpassing expectations, Microsoft shares fell nearly 5% in after-hours trading following the release of its earnings report.

Zacks Investment Research analyst Bryan Hayes said the decline likely reflected “investor scrutiny” over Microsoft’s heavy spending on the infrastructure including computer chips and data centers required to support artificial intelligence.

Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella told investors during an earnings call that the company remains in the “beginning stages” of AI diffusion, referring to the broader adoption of artificial intelligence across industries.