Microsoft posted a net profit of 16.7 billion US dollars or equivalent to Rp 250.383 trillion (exchange rate of Rp 14,993 per US dollar) in the fourth quarter of 2021. The profit equivalent to 2.23 US dollars per share was far below analyst expectations of 2. 29 US dollars per share.
Reported by AP, Tuesday (26/7/2022), this technology giant scored 51.9 billion US dollars in revenue in the April-June period. This figure is up 12 percent from last year. However, the acquisition was still below analyst predictions of 52.94 billion US dollars.
Microsoft said the achievement of financial performance that was below expectations was due to macroeconomic factors and other unexpected things, including production shutdowns related to the pandemic in China, the worsening computer market, to the war in Ukraine.
The company had lowered its profit and sales forecasts in early June. This was due to the weakening of foreign exchange rates due to the surge in the US dollar.
In addition, sales are quite difficult due to supply chain disruptions and geopolitical instability. These conditions put pressure on Microsoft's computing business that relies on licensing revenue.
Sales of these licenses are down 2 percent from the same period last year. Sales also decreased 6 percent, especially content related to Microsoft's Xbox games. While the computing business segment only grew 2 percent to 14.4 billion US dollars.
Market research firm Gartner recently said global PC shipments fell 12.6 percent in the second quarter of 2022 from the same period last year, the steepest decline in nine years. International Data Corp. expects PC shipments to fall 15.3 percent in the second quarter.
However, the growth of Microsoft's cloud computing business was able to cover some of the declines in other posts. Sales in Microsoft's cloud-based segment rose 20 percent to $20.9 billion.
Microsoft's software segment, which includes its Office suite of products, grew 13 percent to $16.6 billion. This growth was also contributed by LinkedIn's revenue which increased 26 percent