Microsoft earnings rise

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft on Thursday reported that its quarterly earnings was lifted on the back of its shift to focusing on computing services hosted in the internet cloud.

The US technology giant said it made a profit of $6.5 billion in the recently ended quarter as revenue rose to $23.3 billion. Microsoft shares -- which closed the official trading day at a new all-time high of $74.22 -- leapt after release of the earnings figures, only to come back down and even slip a bit in after-market trades to $73.65.

About $7.4 billion of the revenue in the quarter came from "intelligent cloud" offerings that are part of Microsoft shedding its legacy of packaged software and embracing a future in which computing power is hosted online as a service.

"Innovation across our cloud platforms drove strong results this quarter," Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said in a statement. Microsoft uses the term "intelligent cloud" to refer to services that let businesses take advantage of computing power online in its data centers, coupled with insights or analysis by artificial intelligence software.