What’s Going On Here?

Microsoft’s reported higher-than-expected quarterly revenue and profit.

What Does This Mean?

• Back in February, Microsoft warned investors its personal computing division (Windows, Surface laptops, and Xbox consoles, …) – would miss sales targets after Chinese factories shut down in response to coronavirus.
• But Microsoft’s cloud computing business grew revenue by a better-than-expected 27% last quarter, partly down to an increase in demand for its remote-working services.
• Its productivity segment (includes Teams), benefited from a sudden uptick in working from home too.

Why Should I Care?

The bigger picture: Teamwork makes the dream work.

Companies around the world have already started planning for a remote-working future post the pandemic – many are planning to offer remote working as a permanent option for some jobs. That’ll probably boost Microsoft’s cloud computing and productivity segments even more.

Zooming out: Halfway to nowhere.

Speaking of recession, the US economy shrank for the first time in six years by an annualized rate of 4.8% last quarter. A recession is technically two consecutive quarters of shrinking economic growth, so if forecasts for this quarter’s shrinkage are anything to go by,

• optimists might say we’re halfway there.
• Pessimists, however, might say the definition is redundant given the size of the drop – and that a recession has already arrived.

Content source: Finimize. (2020) Working It From Home. Available at: https://www.finimize.com/wp/news/working-it-from-home/ [Accessed on Apr 30, 2020]