Microsoft confirms it made $27 billion after laying off 9,000 people, and its CEO physically cannot stop talking about AI: "Cloud and AI is the driving force of business transformation across every industry and sector"

If I've learned anything about Microsoft over the past few weeks, it's that the company loves AI and hates employing humans. Is that an unfair read? Maybe, but it's difficult not to grow cynical about the company as it continues to lay off employees by the thousands even as it invests in controversial new technology. Microsoft's latest financial report suggests it's reaping some big rewards from those investments, too.

According to Microsoft's latest earnings release, the company raked in $27.2 billion in net income for the quarter, up 24% from the previous year. Those earnings were buoyed by a massive boost in revenue from Azure, the cloud computing platform where many of Microsoft's AI efforts lay.

"Cloud and AI is the driving force of business transformation across every industry and sector," CEO Satya Nadella said as part of the report. "We’re innovating across the tech stack to help customers adapt and grow in this new era, and this year, Azure surpassed $75 billion in revenue, up 34 percent, driven by growth across all workloads."

You may recall Nadella's previous superlative comments about AI, which accompanied an acknowledgement of the company's layoffs amid "thriving" financial wins as, simply, "the enigma of success."

Microsoft's gaming revenue grew 10% for the quarter, with content and services review up 13% "driven by growth in first-party content and Xbox Game Pass," which seems to have offset a 22% decline in Xbox hardware. Gaming is up for Microsoft – as is everything from Windows to Microsoft 365 to LinkedIn – it's just not up as much as cloud and AI, and the business world seems content to chase the sharpest line on the graph to the exclusion of all else.

According to reports that emerged shortly after mass layoffs affecting 9,000 Microsoft employees, the company "had the choice" whether to leave a small city's worth of employees jobless or reduce its spending on AI tech. The choice Microsoft made is clear to see, and in the amoral world of publicly traded companies, it sadly appears that it's paying off for now.

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