The earnings release also contained a set of non-operating items that added complexity to the headline profit figure. Microsoft recorded a $3.2 billion gain on its Anthropic investment and a $480 million net gain on its OpenAI stakes during the quarter, together contributing approximately $0.40 to diluted EPS. For the full fiscal year, the OpenAI position contributed roughly $4.96 billion in gains, a sharp reversal from a net loss of $1.58 billion a year earlier. These marks reflect rising private-market valuations and accounting treatment, not cash generated by operations.
Perhaps the most consequential operational metric was the jump in Microsoft 365 Copilot paid seats to over 30 million, up from 20 million in the prior quarter. The acceleration follows a period of intense scrutiny over Copilot adoption, including a leaked internal memo that had flagged low weekly usage rates. The quarter’s net seat additions more than doubled sequentially, and the number of customers with over 50,000 Copilot seats increased more than sevenfold year-over-year.
Not every segment shared in the strength. The More Personal Computing division declined 4% to $12.9 billion, weighed down by a 7% drop in Windows OEM and Devices revenue and a 10% fall in Xbox content and services revenue. The consumer-side weakness was a reminder that Microsoft’s growth narrative remains heavily concentrated in enterprise cloud and AI workloads.