Overview
- Microsoft reported record fiscal 2026 results on Wednesday, with $331.8 billion in revenue and $133.7 billion in net income driven by cloud demand.
- Azure surpassed $100 billion in annual revenue and Microsoft 365 Copilot topped 30 million paid licenses, while the company noted a $3.2 billion one‑time gain from its Anthropic stake and sharply higher capital expenditures.
- Meta posted strong top‑line growth but missed EPS in Q2, raised its 2026 capex guidance to roughly $130–$145 billion, and saw free cash flow plunge about 91% to $784 million, a shock that sent its shares down roughly 9–10%.
- Markets reacted decisively as Microsoft’s report lifted its stock and helped Wall Street recover while Meta’s cash‑flow hit pressured communication‑services stocks and renewed investor focus on cash generation and capex timing.
- The episode highlights a wider tech trend of massive AI spending on chips, energy and data centers that is shifting how firms raise cash, use one‑time portfolio gains and try to turn infrastructure into recurring cloud contracts.