Microsoft FY2026 MD&A — Management-Centric Analysis

Revenue up 18% to $331.8B, Microsoft Cloud up 27%, and the segment, expense, and estimate drivers behind fiscal year 2026.

People

Organizations

Overview & Fiscal 2026 Highlights

Summary Results of Operations (in millions, except EPS and percentages)
MetricFY2026FY2025% Change
Revenue$331,839$281,72418%
Gross margin$225,465$193,89316%
Operating income$155,237$128,52821%
Net income$133,749$101,83231%
Diluted earnings per share$17.95$13.6432%
Adjusted net income (non-GAAP)$128,786$105,45222%
Adjusted diluted EPS (non-GAAP)$17.28$14.1322%

Overview

Microsoft's fiscal 2026 highlights: Microsoft Cloud revenue up 27% to $214.4 billion; commercial remaining performance obligation up 84% to $678 billion; continued expansion of the OpenAI partnership (extended October 2025 and April 2026).

Summary Results of Operations, FY2026 vs. 2025

Revenue $331,839M (+18%). Gross margin $225,465M (+16%). Operating income $155,237M (+21%). Net income $133,749M (+31%). Diluted EPS $17.95 (+32%). OpenAI investment gains added $5.0B / $0.67 EPS to fiscal 2026 (vs. a $3.6B / $0.49 EPS drag in fiscal 2025).

Segment Results of Operations

Segment Results of Operations (in millions, except percentages)
SegmentRevenue FY2026Revenue FY2025Rev. % ChgOp. Income FY2026Op. Income FY2025Op. Inc. % Chg
Productivity and Business Processes$139,996$120,81016%$83,879$69,77320%
Intelligent Cloud$137,791$106,26530%$56,972$44,58928%
More Personal Computing$54,052$54,649(1)%$14,386$14,1662%
Total$331,839$281,72418%$155,237$128,52821%

Productivity and Business Processes

Revenue $139,996M (+16%), operating income $83,879M (+20%). Growth led by Microsoft 365 Commercial cloud (+17%, Copilot & E5 driven), Microsoft 365 Consumer cloud (+28%), LinkedIn (+11%), and Dynamics 365 (+18%).

Intelligent Cloud

Revenue $137,791M (+30%), operating income $56,972M (+28%). Azure and other cloud services revenue grew 41%; cost of revenue rose 44% on AI infrastructure investment, compressing gross margin percentage despite Azure efficiency gains.

More Personal Computing

Revenue $54,052M (−1%), operating income $14,386M (+2%). XBOX revenue fell 7% (hardware down 29%) offset by Search advertising growth of 9% (ex-TAC +12%); Windows OEM grew 5%.

Operating Expenses

Operating Expenses (in millions, except percentages)
CategoryFY2026FY2025% Change% of Revenue FY2026% of Revenue FY2025
Research and development$35,562$32,4889%11%12%
Sales and marketing$26,710$25,6544%8%9%
General and administrative$7,956$7,22310%2%3%

Research and Development

$35,562M, +9% (11% of revenue). Driven by continued investment in compute capacity, AI talent and data, plus XBOX impairment and other related expenses.

Sales and Marketing

$26,710M, +4% (8% of revenue). Driven by investments in commercial sales and higher Copilot advertising expenses.

General and Administrative

$7,956M, +10% (2% of revenue). Driven by higher legal expenses and gains on divestitures recorded in the prior period.

Other Income (Expense), Net & Income Taxes

Other Income (Expense), Net — Components (in millions)
ComponentFY2026FY2025
Interest and dividends income$3,301$2,647
Interest expense$(3,051)$(2,385)
Net recognized gains (losses) on investments$4,385$(349)
Net gains (losses) on derivatives$1,867$(260)
Net gains (losses) on foreign currency remeasurements$(527)$171
Other, net$4,722$(4,725)
Total$10,697$(4,901)
Income Before Income Taxes by Jurisdiction (in billions)
JurisdictionFY2026FY2025
United States$103.6$69.2
Foreign$62.3$54.4

Other Income (Expense), Net

$10,697M (vs. $(4,901)M in FY2025), including $6.5B of net gains from OpenAI investments (vs. $4.8B of net losses in FY2025), primarily the dilution gain from the OpenAI Recapitalization.

Effective Tax Rate

19% in FY2026 vs. 18% in FY2025; the increase reflects the mix of earnings between the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions, remaining below the U.S. federal statutory rate due to Ireland-sourced foreign earnings.

Uncertain Tax Positions

Ongoing IRS audit (tax years 2014–2017) and a 2023 Notice of Proposed Adjustment for tax years 2004–2013 relating to transfer pricing, with the IRS seeking $28.9B plus penalties and interest; management is contesting the NOPAs.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Non-GAAP Reconciliation (in millions, except EPS and percentages)
MetricFY2026FY2025% Change
Other income (expense), net (GAAP)$10,697$(4,901)318%
Net (gains) losses from OpenAI investments$(6,530)$4,763(237)%
Adjusted other income (expense), net (non-GAAP)$4,167$(138)3,120%
Net income (GAAP)$133,749$101,83231%
Net (gains) losses from OpenAI, net of tax$(4,963)$3,620(237)%
Adjusted net income (non-GAAP)$128,786$105,45222%
Diluted earnings per share (GAAP)$17.95$13.6432%
Adjusted diluted EPS (non-GAAP)$17.28$14.1322%

Non-GAAP Reconciliation

Adjusted net income (non-GAAP) $128,786M (+22%) and adjusted diluted EPS $17.28 (+22%), excluding net gains/losses from OpenAI investments from GAAP net income of $133,749M and diluted EPS of $17.95.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Expected Recognition of Unearned Revenue as of June 30, 2026 (in millions)
PeriodAmount
Three months ending September 30, 2026$28,589
Three months ending December 31, 2026$22,556
Three months ending March 31, 2027$15,457
Three months ending June 30, 2027$6,363
Thereafter$2,747
Total$75,712
Contractual Obligations as of June 30, 2026 (in millions)
Obligation2027ThereafterTotal
Long-term debt — principal payments$9,250$36,886$46,136
Long-term debt — interest payments$1,405$24,148$25,553
Construction commitments$29,848$4,718$34,566
Operating and finance leases (incl. imputed interest)$32,411$411,095$443,506
Purchase commitments$169,008$25,052$194,060
Total$241,922$501,899$743,821

Cash, Cash Equivalents, and Investments

$76.8B in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments as of June 30, 2026 (vs. $94.6B in 2025); equity and other investments grew to $36.3B.

Cash Flows

Cash from operations $182.9B (+$46.8B). Cash used in investing $139.5B (+$66.9B, driven by a $51.4B increase in capex). Cash used in financing $52.5B (+$847M).

Unearned Revenue

$75,712M expected to be recognized as of June 30, 2026, front-loaded into the next two fiscal quarters ($28,589M and $22,556M respectively).

Material Cash Requirements & Contractual Obligations

$743,821M total, including $443,506M in operating/finance leases (largely datacenter-related) and $194,060M in purchase commitments.

Share Repurchases

36 million shares repurchased for $16.7B in FY2026; $40.6B remains available under the $60B repurchase program.

Dividends

$27.0B in dividends declared in FY2026, up from $24.7B in FY2025.

Critical Accounting Estimates

Revenue Recognition

Judgment in identifying distinct performance obligations, standalone selling price, and bundled offerings such as Office 365 (accounted for as one performance obligation, recognized ratably).

Measurement & Impairment of Investment Securities

Quarterly credit-loss and impairment review of debt investments; periodic qualitative impairment assessment for equity investments without readily determinable fair values.

Goodwill

Annual (May 1) reporting-unit impairment testing via discounted cash flow methodology, requiring judgment on future cash flows, growth rates, and weighted average cost of capital.

Research and Development Costs

Software development costs expensed until technological feasibility is established, then capitalized until general release.

Legal and Other Contingencies

Losses accrued when probable and reasonably estimable, based on the degree of probability of an unfavorable outcome.

Income Taxes

Uncertain tax positions recognized only when more-likely-than-not to be sustained on examination, measured at the largest benefit with >50% likelihood of realization.

Statement of Management's Responsibility

Management's Responsibility for Financial Statements

Consolidated financial statements are prepared by management in conformity with GAAP, audited by Deloitte & Touche LLP, and overseen by the Board's Audit Committee. Signed by Satya Nadella (CEO), Amy E. Hood (CFO), and Alice L. Jolla (CAO).

Frequently Asked Questions

Microsoft reported total revenue of $331,839 million for fiscal year 2026, an increase of 18% over fiscal year 2025's $281,724 million, driven primarily by growth in Microsoft Cloud.

Microsoft Cloud revenue increased 27% to $214.4 billion in fiscal year 2026.

Intelligent Cloud operating income increased $12.4 billion or 28%, driven by 30% revenue growth (led by Azure and other cloud services growing 41%) and 21% gross margin growth, though gross margin percentage decreased due to continued AI infrastructure investment and sales mix shift to Azure.

The effective tax rate increased from 18% in fiscal 2025 to 19% in fiscal 2026, primarily due to changes in the mix of earnings and tax expenses between the U.S. and foreign countries.

Management excludes net gains and losses from investments in OpenAI from adjusted (non-GAAP) net income and adjusted diluted EPS because it believes doing so provides additional insight into financial performance and helps clarify underlying business trends, since these amounts primarily reflect equity-method investment gains and losses rather than core operations.

Productivity and Business Processes revenue increased $19.2 billion or 16% to $139,996 million, and operating income increased $14.1 billion or 20% to $83,879 million, driven by Microsoft 365 Commercial cloud, LinkedIn, and Dynamics 365 growth.

More Personal Computing revenue decreased $597 million or 1% to $54,052 million, driven by a 7% decline in XBOX revenue (including a 29% drop in XBOX hardware revenue), offset in part by 9% growth in Search advertising revenue.

Research and development expenses increased $3.1 billion or 9% to $35,562 million, driven by continued investments in compute capacity, AI talent, and data supporting product development, as well as impairment and other related expenses in the XBOX business.

Management exercises significant judgment in determining distinct performance obligations, standalone selling price, and the treatment of bundled offerings such as Office 365, where desktop applications and cloud services are accounted for together as one performance obligation recognized ratably.

Goodwill is tested for impairment at the reporting unit level annually on May 1, and between annual tests if triggering events occur, primarily using a discounted cash flow methodology requiring judgment about future cash flows, long-term growth rates, and weighted average cost of capital.

As of June 30, 2026, cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments totaled $76.8 billion, and equity and other investments were $36.3 billion. Cash from operations was $182.9 billion for the fiscal year.

Cash from operations increased $46.8 billion to $182.9 billion for fiscal year 2026, primarily due to higher cash received from customers and lower cash used to pay income taxes, offset in part by higher cash paid to suppliers.

Microsoft received Notices of Proposed Adjustment from the IRS for tax years 2004 to 2013 relating primarily to intercompany transfer pricing, with the IRS seeking an additional tax payment of $28.9 billion plus penalties and interest. Management believes its allowances for income tax contingencies are adequate, disagrees with the proposed adjustments, and will contest them through IRS administrative appeals and, if necessary, judicial proceedings.

As of June 30, 2026, total outstanding contractual obligations were $743,821 million, comprising long-term debt principal and interest, construction commitments, operating and finance leases, and purchase commitments (primarily for datacenters).

Management, including Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella, Chief Financial Officer Amy E. Hood, and Chief Accounting Officer Alice L. Jolla, is responsible for preparing the consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP; Deloitte & Touche LLP was engaged to audit and render an opinion on the financial statements and internal control over financial reporting.

Financial Concepts (FASB US-GAAP XBRL Taxonomy)

Financial-statement line items in this analysis, aligned to the exact FASB US-GAAP XBRL taxonomy concepts Microsoft used to tag them in its own XBRL instance document for this filing — verified against the filing's accompanying msft-20260630_htm.xml, not assumed from memory.

Revenue

FASB US-GAAP XBRL taxonomy concept for revenue from contracts with customers, excluding assessed tax — the element Microsoft tags its total revenue with in this filing's XBRL instance.

Gross margin

FASB US-GAAP XBRL taxonomy concept for gross profit (revenue less cost of revenue).

Operating income

FASB US-GAAP XBRL taxonomy concept for income or loss from operations before other income/expense and income taxes.

Net income

FASB US-GAAP XBRL taxonomy concept for consolidated net income or loss attributable to the reporting entity.

Diluted earnings per share

FASB US-GAAP XBRL taxonomy concept for diluted net income per share, reflecting potential dilution of common stock equivalents.

Interest and dividends income

FASB US-GAAP XBRL taxonomy concept for net investment income.

Interest expense

FASB US-GAAP XBRL taxonomy concept for nonoperating interest expense.

Net recognized gains (losses) on investments

FASB US-GAAP XBRL taxonomy concept for net realized and unrealized gains or losses on investments.

Net gains (losses) on derivatives

FASB US-GAAP XBRL taxonomy concept for the net pretax gain or loss on derivative instruments.

Net gains (losses) on foreign currency remeasurements

FASB US-GAAP XBRL taxonomy concept for the pretax gain or loss from foreign currency transaction remeasurement.

Other, net

FASB US-GAAP XBRL taxonomy concept for other nonoperating income and expense not separately classified, including equity-method investment gains/losses such as Microsoft's OpenAI investment.

Other income (expense), net

FASB US-GAAP XBRL taxonomy concept for total nonoperating income and expense, net.

Research and development

FASB US-GAAP XBRL taxonomy concept for research and development expense.

Sales and marketing

FASB US-GAAP XBRL taxonomy concept for selling and marketing expense.

General and administrative

FASB US-GAAP XBRL taxonomy concept for general and administrative expense.

Unearned revenue

FASB US-GAAP XBRL taxonomy concept for the contract liability recognized for consideration received in advance of satisfying performance obligations.

Effective tax rate

FASB US-GAAP XBRL taxonomy concept for the effective income tax rate from continuing operations.

Glossary of Terms

MD&A

Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations — the section of a Form 10-K in which management explains the results of operations and financial condition of the

Microsoft Cloud revenue

Revenue from Microsoft 365 Commercial cloud, Azure and other cloud services, the commercial portion of LinkedIn, and Dynamics 365.

Commercial remaining performance obligation

The commercial portion of revenue allocated to remaining performance obligations, including unearned revenue and amounts that will be invoiced and recognized as revenue in future periods.

Non-GAAP financial measures

Financial measures, such as adjusted net income and adjusted diluted EPS, that exclude net gains and losses from investments in OpenAI; used by management alongside GAAP results but not a substitute f

Adjusted net income (non-GAAP)

GAAP net income adjusted to exclude net gains and losses, net of tax, from investments in OpenAI.

Standalone selling price (SSP)

The price at which a distinct product or service would be sold separately to a customer, used to allocate revenue across multiple performance obligations in a contract.

Unearned revenue

Amounts invoiced or collected in advance of revenue recognition, comprising mainly volume licensing programs including cloud services and Software Assurance, recognized ratably over the coverage perio

Critical accounting estimate

An estimate involving a significant level of estimation uncertainty that could have a material impact on financial condition or results of operations.

Goodwill impairment test

An annual (and event-driven) assessment of whether a reporting unit's carrying value exceeds its estimated fair value, typically determined using a discounted cash flow methodology.

Effective tax rate

Total income tax expense divided by income before income taxes, reflecting the blended impact of statutory rates across the jurisdictions in which a company earns income.

Reportable segment

A component of a business for which discrete financial information is reviewed by the chief operating decision maker and disclosed separately in financial reporting; Microsoft reports Productivity and

Microsoft 365 Commercial seat

A paid user covered by a Microsoft 365 Commercial subscription at the end of a reporting period, used as a leading indicator of Microsoft 365 Commercial cloud revenue growth.

How-To Guide

Knowledge Graph Explorer

Interactive graph visualization derived from the companion RDF. Click nodes to resolve, drag to explore. Graph data embedded from companion RDF at generation time.

Microsoft FY2026 MD&A — Management-Centric Analysis

Nodes: 0 Links: 0
Click SVG to activate zoom, click outside to release | Drag nodes to pin, double-click to unpin
Classes Properties Instances

Explore Knowledge Graph using SPARQL

Run the canonical entity-type summary query below against the companion RDF, loaded into URIBurner as a named graph. Copy it into your own SPARQL client, or run it live.

SPARQL
PREFIX rdf: <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#>
PREFIX rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#>

SELECT
    ?type
    (SAMPLE(?s) AS ?sampleEntity)
    (SAMPLE(?label) AS ?sampleLabel)
    (COUNT(?s) AS ?entityCount)
WHERE {
    GRAPH <https://linkeddata.uriburner.com/DAV/demos/daas/msft-mda-fy2026-claude_code-1.ttl> {
        ?s rdf:type ?type .
        OPTIONAL { ?s rdfs:label ?label }
    }
}
GROUP BY ?type
ORDER BY DESC(?entityCount)
▶ Run Query Runs against the URIBurner SPARQL endpoint. Result format: SELECT queries use text/x-html+tr; DESCRIBE/CONSTRUCT queries use text/x-html-nice-turtle.