Microsoft Search and News advertising revenue rises 8%

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ “MSFT” @microsoft) yesterday announced that its Search and News advertising revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs rose 8% (up 7% in constant currency) year-over-year in the second quarter of fiscal year 2024.

The Search and News advertising revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs includes revenue from Microsoft’s Bing search engine, MSN news site, and Microsoft Advertising platform.

Microsoft's revenue in the latest quarter was $62.0 billion, an increase of 18% (up 16% in constant currency) from the same period a year ago. Operating income was $27.0 billion, and net income was $21.9 billion, both up 33% (up 25% in constant currency) from the prior year. Diluted earnings per share were $2.93, an increase of 33% (up 26% in constant currency) from the prior year.

Microsoft Cloud revenue was $33.7 billion, up 24% (up 22% in constant currency) from the prior year. This growth was driven by strong demand for Azure, our enterprise cloud platform, as well as our Office 365 productivity suite and Dynamics 365 ERP software.

Revenue in the Productivity and Business Processes segment was $19.2 billion, up 13% (up 12% in constant currency) from the prior year. This growth was driven by continued adoption of Office 365, as well as strong growth in our LinkedIn advertising platform.

Revenue in the Intelligent Cloud segment was $25.9 billion, up 20% (up 19% in constant currency) from the prior year. This growth was driven by strong demand for Azure, as well as our server products and cloud services.

Revenue in the More Personal Computing segment was $16.9 billion, up 19% (up 18% in constant currency) from the prior year. This growth was driven by strong demand for Windows and Surface devices, as well as our Xbox gaming console.

Microsoft returned $8.4 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends in the second quarter of fiscal year 2024.

Here are some additional highlights from Microsoft’s second quarter results:

• Microsoft Cloud grew 24% (up 22% in constant currency) year-over-year.
• Azure grew 30% (up 28% in constant currency) year-over-year.
• Office 365 Commercial grew 17% (up 16% in constant currency) year-over-year.
• LinkedIn revenue grew 9% (up 8% in constant currency) year-over-year.
• Windows OEM revenue grew 11% year-over-year.
• Search and news advertising revenue excluding traffic acquisition costs grew 8% (up 7% in constant currency) year-over-year.