Anyone with access to a computer has at least heard the word “Microsoft,” even if they’re not 100% sure what this company does. Does it sell computers and other devices? Does it provide an operative system? Does it offer games or a cloud service? The answer is yes to all of the above.
Microsoft's employees and executives have worked so hard to make Microsoft the emporium that it is today. Microsoft offers services for almost anyone in the tech market, from gaming to software, hardware, and AI. Now, let’s look at some of the key Microsoft statistics that describe this tech behemoth.
In 2023, Microsoft's annual global revenue reached $211.92 billion, marking a 7% increase from the previous year's $198.27 billion. This continues Microsoft's trend of setting annual revenue records over the last five years.
Microsoft states that they use three segments for operating their business and reporting their financial performance: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. This revenue increase was primarily driven by the growth registered in Intelligent Cloud and Productivity and Business Processes. This growth includes advancements in server products and cloud services in the Intelligent Cloud segment, and enhancements in productivity, communication, and information services in the Productivity and Business Processes segment.
The Intelligent Cloud segment significantly contributed to this year's revenue increase for Microsoft, generating $88 billion. This is a notable rise from the nearly $75 billion earned in the previous fiscal year. Among Microsoft's three business segments, the cloud computing one experienced the most substantial revenue growth, primarily driven by Azure and other cloud services.
The second biggest segment of the company saw an increase of 9% in its revenue thanks to Office 365 Commercial and LinkedIn. Office 365 Commercial revenue grew 13% with a seat growth of 11% partially driven by small and medium businesses. Additionally, LinkedIn revenue increased by 10%, equivalent to $1.3 billion, driven by Talent Solutions.
The business and employment-based platform helps more than 950 million members connect and build their dream careers. And its impact on the work field has grown so much that it has broken its records in this fiscal year. LinkedIn managed to increase its revenue from $10.3 billion in 2021 to an impressive $15.15 billion in 2023.
Thanks to the other two segments, the decrease in revenue in ‘More Personal Computing’ from 59,9 billion in 2022 to 54,7 billion in 2023 wasn’t that big of a hit for the company. The 9% decrease was driven by a decline in Windows OEM revenue and a high device inventory in distribution channels facing an unexpected low PC demand.
Microsoft's device revenue experienced a significant 24% drop, resulting in $1.8 billion less than the previous year's $6.99 billion. This marks the largest decrease within the More Personal Computing segment.
Even gaming, part of the More Personal Computing segment, was affected by a revenue decrease of around $764 million, thanks mainly to the decline in Xbox hardware and Xbox content and services sales.
According to Statista, Microsoft was the largest software company in the world by sales revenue from 2017 to 2023, achieving a revenue of $208 billion in the most recent year. We can find Oracle and SAP behind Microsoft, earning a mere quarter each of Microsoft's revenue for the same year, with figures of $48 billion and $33 billion, respectively.
As of June 2023, Microsoft’s Windows was the most widely used desktop operating system worldwide, with an almost 70% share of the OS market. MacOS, Linux, and Google's Chrome OS are far behind Microsoft, accounting for 21.38%, 3.08%, and 4.1%, respectively.
By the beginning of this year, Microsoft’s Office 365 was only second to Google Workspace by an approximate mere 5% difference. Google registered a share of 50.34%, and Microsoft stayed right behind with a 45.46% share. According to MarketSplash, Google Workspace’s user base has grown by 80% in the last two years.
By the end of 2022, Xbox had doubled its monthly active users in just three years, from 64 million in 2019 to 120 million. Nonetheless, it still faced a close fight with Nintendo Switch, which reached approximately 114 million in that same period, and the PS Network, which also got close with 112 million.
One of the Microsoft Apps that saw the biggest usage increase over the last few years was Teams. Thanks to the pandemic and the popularization of working from home, this communication and collaboration platform went from 145 million users in 2021 to 270 million daily active users worldwide in 2022.
According to the 2023 Annual Report, Microsoft has worked hard to build momentum in Teams by introducing a new version that performs two times faster while using 50% less memory, besides adding AI-powered features like intelligent meeting recaps. It also announces that the app's monthly active users have surpassed the 300 million mark this fiscal year.
As of the end of 2022, Microsoft reported 211,000 employees under its name. These employees are divided into four business units: operations (manufacturing, distribution, product support, and consulting services), research and development, sales and marketing, and general administration. More than half of those employees live in the USA.
Now, heading into the demographics of Microsoft’s employees, we can highlight the work the company is putting into equity and its social presence across various causes. Some of the statistics related to it are:
Microsoft's Annual Diversity and Inclusion Report highlights a notable increase in diversity, with a 1.8 percentage point growth year-over-year. Notably, 39.9% of the women contributing to this increase are based outside North America.
In the same report, Microsoft documented a percentage of 7.8 of its US employees in its core Microsoft business as having a disability. The company also states that they’ve learned, thanks to their 25+ years of work on accessibility at Microsoft, that people with disabilities represent “One of the world’s largest untapped talent pools” and that they continue to actively work to hire people with disabilities “to bring their expertise into our processes, products, and culture at every level.”
Microsoft acknowledges its employees' commitment to social causes, evidenced by nearly a million hours of volunteering and donations totaling $242 million to over 35,000 nonprofits across 116 countries. These contributions involve half of its 211,000-strong workforce.
Additionally, Microsoft itself contributes to such causes, with over $3.8 billion in discounted and donated technology provided to nonprofits this year.
Among the company’s pursuit to take responsibility for its impact on the planet, one of Microsoft’s courses of action was to contract to protect 17,268 acres of land, which equates to more than half of the land they use to operate, and 12,270 of those acres were designated as permanently protected.
Microsoft has consistently demonstrated growth and innovation over recent years. The company's dedication to integrating cutting-edge technology into its services suggests that this upward trajectory will continue.
Equally noteworthy is Microsoft's commitment to being a responsible and positive force for its customers, employees, and the broader communities it influences. Microsoft's holistic approach to improvement sets a benchmark that other companies would do well to emulate.
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