Microsoft's First-Quarter Profit Tops Estimates on Cloud Growth

  • Nadella's push to sell Internet-based services gains ground
  • Personal-computing division revenue declines 17 percent

The Microsoft Corp. pavilion at the Mobile World Congress.

Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
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Microsoft Corp. reached a 15-year high after profit exceeded analysts’ estimates, buoyed by demand for Internet-based programs that handle business tasks and host companies’ applications.

Fiscal first-quarter profit excluding items such as severance and acquisition costs, amounted to 67 cents a share, and sales adjusted for deferrals were $21.7 billion, Microsoft said Thursday in a statement. Analysts on average projected profit of 59 cents on revenue of $21 billion for the quarter through Sept. 30, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.