Cloud Produces Sunny Earnings at Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet -
By NICK WINGFIELD, DAVID STREITFELD and STEVE LOHRAPRIL 27, 2017
SEATTLE — The moneymaking machines at the core of Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, are notably different.
For the first quarter, which ended March 31, Amazon said its total net income rose to
$724 million, or $1.48 a share, from $513 million, or $1.07 a share, a year ago.
In their quarterly earnings reports on Thursday, the three said cloud computing — through which they rent computing services
and online access to software hosted in their data centers — was growing faster than their larger, older businesses.
Microsoft’s total operating revenue, which includes the deferred accounting for sales
of its Windows 10 personal computer operating system, was higher, at $23.56 billion.
The company’s results were well ahead of the $1.12-a-share average earnings estimate
and $35.3 billion revenue estimate of analysts compiled by Thomson Reuters.
Ruth Porat, Alphabet’s chief financial officer, said in a conference call with analysts
that the Google cloud platform was one of the company’s “fastest-growing businesses,” though she offered no details.
Its operating earnings per share, which excludes one-time gains, increased 16 percent
to 73 cents a share, ahead of the average analyst estimate of 70 cents a share.