The company’s latest quarterly results show that the Microsoft cloud is booming. But the CMA is not happy with how it’s winning business
The company’s latest quarterly results show that the Microsoft cloud is booming. But the CMA is not happy with how it’s winning business
Microsoft Cloud grew 27%, with revenue of $46.7bn, in its fourth quarter 2025 financial results, the tech giant has reported. While the company has capitalised on linking its large software portfolio to cloud-based growth and, in particular, adoption of Copilot artificial intelligence (AI) services, the UK competition watchdog has found some of its licensing practices limit competition in the public cloud market.
Analyst Forrester recently warned that the rapid adoption of Microsoft Copilot is forcing the hand of IT decision-makers. But enterprise IT buyers continue to be drawn to Microsoft platforms, which bridge on-premise and public cloud IT infrastructure as well as provide a route to cloud-native computing and AI.
In fact, the company’s latest financial results demonstrate its effectiveness at connecting the dots to deliver value to enterprise IT buyers. Revenue increased 18% to $76.4bn compared with the same period in 2024.
Its M365 commercial cloud increased revenue by 18%, with the company seeing average revenue per user (ARPU) growth driven by its E5 and M365 Copilot offerings. The company said it experienced 6% growth in paid M365 commercial seats driven primarily by growth of its small and medium business and frontline worker offerings.
