The software company is clearly feeling the consequences of inflation.
(Photo: Reuters)
The software giant Microsoft struggled at the end of the year in view of high inflation and fears of recession and earned significantly less. In the three months to the end of December, net profit fell by twelve percent compared to the previous year to 16.4 billion dollars (15.1 billion euros), as the computer company announced on Tuesday after the US stock market closed.
Global sales of laptops and desktops, which had boomed during the coronavirus pandemic, fell nearly 29 percent by the end of 2022, according to consultancy Gartner.
Microsoft’s revenues rose 2 percent to $52.7 billion – the weakest growth in more than six years. Overall, however, the quarterly figures were in line with expectations. The stock initially gained around 4 percent in after-hours trading. Revenues in the important cloud business were slightly higher than assumed by Wall Street analysts.