Microsoft shares rose more than 5% on Wednesday afternoon after the company reported revenue and profit above expectations, driven by its Azure cloud unit, which grew 48% in the September quarter. Total revenue reached $92.3 billion and profit exceeded $36.6 billion, compared with FactSet analyst estimates of about $90.6 billion and $35.1 billion. Days earlier, Microsoft offered voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees, roughly a quarter of its workforce, its second such offer this year. Headcount fell to 223,000 at the end of June from 228,000 at the end of 2025. Capital expenditures reached $45.2 billion, mostly on short-lived assets such as memory chips and storage, and the company expects more than $50 billion in the final quarter of 2026, bringing full-year spending to $170 billion.
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MSFT
▲ Likely positiveMicrosoft
Relevance: high
| Market | US stocks |
|---|---|
| Sector | Information Technology |
| Industry | Systems Software |
| Market cap | $3.9T |
| Close on 10/28/2026 | 530.83 |
| Change that session | -0.09% |
Impact is scored by AI from the headline and may be wrong. It is not investment advice.
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