Microsoft's cloud platforms responsible for strong Q4 results

Microsoft has unveiled its performance in Q4 ending June 30, 2017. Commenting on the company’s performance in the period under review, Satya Nadella, chief executive officer at Microsoft, said innovation across Microsoft’s cloud platforms drove strong results this quarter.

“Customers are looking to Microsoft and our thriving partner ecosystem to accelerate their own digital transformations and to unlock new opportunity in this era of intelligent cloud and intelligent edge,” Nadella said.

Microsoft said it returned $4.6 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2017.

“We delivered a strong finish to the year with 30% growth in commercial bookings this quarter,” said Amy Hood, executive vice president and chief financial officer at Microsoft. “We will continue to invest in key areas that drive future growth for Microsoft and our customers.”

Revenue in Productivity and Business Processes was $8.4 billion and increased 21% (up 23% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

Office commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 5% (up 6% in constant currency) driven by Office 365 commercial revenue growth of 43% (up 44% in constant currency)
Office consumer products and cloud services revenue increased 13% (up 13% in constant currency) and Office 365 consumer subscribers increased to 27.0 million
Dynamics products and cloud services revenue increased 7% (up 9% in constant currency) driven by Dynamics 365 revenue growth of 74% (up 75% in constant currency)
LinkedIn contributed revenue of $1.1 billion during the quarter

Revenue in Intelligent Cloud was $7.4 billion and increased 11% (up 12% in constant currency), with the following business highlights:

Server products and cloud services revenue increased 15% (up 16% in constant currency) driven by Azure revenue growth of 97% (up 98% in constant currency)
Enterprise Services revenue decreased 3% (down 1% in constant currency) with declines in custom support agreements offset by growth in Premier Support Services

Revenue in More Personal Computing was $8.8 billion and decreased 2% (down 1% in constant currency) driven primarily by lower phone revenue, with the following business highlights:

Windows OEM revenue increased 1% (up 1% in constant currency), slightly ahead of the overall PC market
Windows commercial products and cloud services revenue increased 8% (up 8% in constant currency) driven by annuity revenue growth
Surface revenue decreased 2% (down 1% in constant currency) mainly due to product lifecycle transitions
Search advertising revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs increased 10% (up 11% in constant currency) driven by higher revenue per search and search volume
Gaming revenue increased 3% (up 4% in constant currency) as strength in Xbox software and services offset lower hardware revenue

Microsoft Corp. announced the following results for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2017: