Microsoft has had a very rough quarter. The tech firm posted its biggest quarterly loss ever, and also took a write-down of $ 7.5 billion related to Nokia acquisition. Despite this, the company still has a number of positive developments in the form of product services.
Microsoft focusing on the future
According to Bloomberg, Nokia’s acquisition, which was a parting gift from former CEO Steve Ballmer to Nadella, is the primary reason for its biggest quarterly loss ever. With the write-down, the tech firm admitted the acquisition of Nokia’s handset would not turn it into a major player in the smartphone market. In addition, the decision to refocus on the company’s core also resulted in huge layoffs. Nevertheless, the company is growing in the areas where the future of Microsoft lies.
Nadella understandably told analysts during the conference call that he chooses to look towards the future. Taking both mobile and rest of the Microsoft into consideration, Nadella said he will opt for a more focused approach.
“Business process, collaboration, communications, these category boundaries are things I believe are going to change,” Nadella said.
Many opportunities to look up to
In speaking with analysts, Nadella discussed the acquisition of field service software company FieldOne, the launch of the Cortana Analytics Suite and Windows 10, which will launch next week. The Microsoft CEO also discussed the company’s plans to generate $20 billion in cloud computing revenue in 2018.
Nadella is confident that despite the weak PC ecosystem, “Windows 10 will broaden our economic opportunities and return Windows to growth.”
Microsoft is working on various other opportunities which will soon start producing results. Solid growth was visible in cloud services, search displayed a 21% revenue growth, while Xbox witnessed a 27% revenue growth. At least double-digit revenue growth was also seen in Azure, Office 365 and the Microsoft Dynamics cloud enterprise software line.
Microsoft Office has always proven to be a money maker for the company. It is transitioning well to a cross-platform mobile and cloud world with 150 million downloads on the iOS and Android. Nadella informed that every month nearly 50,000 new small and medium businesses take up Office 365, and four out of five Fortune 500 listed companies are using the service.
It can be assumed that the worst phase of the company is over, but the future is still quite unpredictable. That said, Microsoft should be able to convince the world that it is a new company with new priorities.
