Microsoft Sales, Profit Top Estimates on Cloud; Azure Slows

  • Demand for cloud services remains strong, but is decelerating
  • Office 365 revenue jumped 25% in fiscal first quarter

    

Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg
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Microsoft Corp.’s sales and profit got a boost from demand for Azure cloud-computing programs and internet-based versions of Office productivity software, lifting results above analysts’ expectations.

Profit in the first quarter, which ended Sept. 30, rose to $10.7 billion, or $1.38 a share, compared with the $1.24 per-share average estimate of analysts polled by Bloomberg. Revenue rose 14% to $33.1 billion, the Redmond, Washington-based company said Wednesday in a statementBloomberg Terminal, better than the $32.2 billion average prediction.