REDMOND, Wash. (AP) — Microsoft said Wednesday that its revenue for the October-December quarter was $81.3 billion, up 17% from the same time last year as it furthers its goal to expand global adoption of its artificial intelligence tools.
The company reported net profit for the quarter of $30.9 billion, or $4.14 per share, beating Wall Street expectations. Those results excluded the impact from Microsoft's investments in ChatGPT maker OpenAI.
Microsoft was expected to earn $3.91 per share on revenue of $80.31 billion for the October-December quarter, according to analysts surveyed by FactSet Research.
Microsoft's profit was higher, at $38.5 billion, or $5.16 per share, when not incorporating its OpenAI investments, reflecting a new accounting practice the company says it will be using going forward.
Those investments reflect OpenAI's restructuring last year. Microsoft had a roughly 27% percent, or $135 billion stake, in OpenAI as the startup, originally a nonprofit, has converted itself into a new for-profit public benefit corporation.
While no longer OpenAI’s exclusive cloud provider, a relationship that helped bankroll the AI company's early growth, Microsoft also will retain commercial rights to OpenAI products through 2032.
Sales from Microsoft’s AI-focused cloud computing business segment was $32.9 billion for the last three months of the year, up 29% from the same time last year and above the $32.4 billion expected by analysts polled by FactSet.
Despite beating expectations, Microsoft stock dropped nearly 5% in after-hours trading after it released its earnings report.
Zacks Investment Research analyst Bryan Hayes said the dip likely reflected “investor scrutiny” over Microsoft's large amounts of spending on the infrastructure of computer chips and data centers needed to power AI.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said on an earnings call with investors that the company is still in the “beginning stages” of AI diffusion, a term for spreading the usage of AI to a variety of sectors.
FILE - The logo of Microsoft is seen outside its French headquarters in Issy-les-Moulineaux, outside Paris on May 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s parliament on Friday elected Min Aung Hlaing, a general who ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in 2021 and kept an iron grip on power for the past five years, as the country’s new president.
The move marks a nominal return to an elected government but is widely considered as an effort to keep the army in power after an election organized by the military that opponents and independent observers deemed neither free nor fair.
Transitioning to an elected government is also seen as a way to improve frosty relations with Asian neighbors following the military takeover. China and Russia have supported the military administration, while Western powers imposed sanctions.
Min Aung Hlaing was one of three nominees for the president’s post, but was virtually guaranteed the job as lawmakers from military-backed parties and appointed members from the army hold a commanding majority in parliament.
The vote was held in the newly renovated parliament building in the capital, Naypyitaw, which was damaged in last year’s earthquake.
Aung Lin Dwe, speaker of parliament’s combined upper and lower house, announced that Min Aung Hlaing won 429 out of the 584 votes.
The two runners-up become vice presidents. Nyo Saw, a former general, had served as an adviser to Min Aung Hlaing, and Nan Ni Ni Aye, an ethnic Karen politician from the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party, will be the country’s first female vice president. They are expected to be inaugurated next week.
Min Aung Hlaing, who holds the rank of senior general, had earlier relinquished his post of commander-in-chief because the constitution prohibits the president from simultaneously holding the top military position. A close aide, Gen. Ye Win Oo, took over the powerful job.
The 69-year-old Min Aung Hlaing had been the military chief since 2011. Under the military-imposed constitution, he held significant powers even before overthrowing Suu Kyi’s government.
Parliament members were elected in three phases in December and January. Major opposition parties, including Suu Kyi’s former ruling National League for Democracy, were either blocked from running or refused to compete under conditions they deemed unfair. Suu Kyi, 80, is serving a 27-year prison term on charges widely viewed as politically motivated.
Myanmar was under military rule from 1962 until 2016, when Suu Kyi’s party came to power, and won an even greater mandate in the 2020 general election. The army took seized control in 2021, before the new Parliament could convene.
Peaceful protests against military rule were put down with deadly force, pushing pro-democracy activists to turn to armed resistance and ally themselves with ethnic minority groups who have been battling for greater autonomy for decades.
Much of the country has been enmeshed in a bloody civil war. Security concerns meant voting in the recent election could be held in only 263 of the country’s 330 townships.
“If Min Aung Hlaing thinks that an official civilian title will shield him from prosecution for the many grave violations of international law that he is accused of overseeing as head of the military, that is not how international justice works," Amnesty International Myanmar researcher Joe Freeman said in statement.
In 2024, the International Criminal Court in The Hague began an investigation on charges of crimes against humanity after a prosecutor applied for an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing over the military’s brutal persecution of the Rohingya minority.
Parliament chairman Aung Lin Dwe, center, arrives for a session of Union Parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)
FILE - Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, head of Myanmar's military council, inspects officers during a parade to commemorate Myanmar's 78th Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, March 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo, File)
Myanmar's military representatives and lawmakers arrive to attend a session at Union parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Friday, April 3, 2026.(AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)
Myanmar's military representatives arrive for a session at Union parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)
Myanmar's military representatives arrive for a session at Union parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)
Parliament chairman Aung Lin Dwe arrives for a session of Union Parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)
Parliament chairman Aung Lin Dwe, center, arrives for a session of Union Parliament in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Aung Shine Oo)
