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Executive Chairman and CEO of Microsoft Corporation Satya Nadella speaks during the “Microsoft Build: AI Day” event in Bangkok, Thailand, May 1, 2024. 

Chalinee Thirasupa | Reuters

Microsoft on Wednesday updated quarterly revenue guidance for its three business segments in a shift that stands to give investors better visibility into the software maker’s growing cloud infrastructure business.

The company is bulking up the Productivity and Business Processes segment that includes Office productivity software subscriptions with services that have for years appeared inside the Intelligent Cloud unit that features Azure.

Productivity and Business Processes will also gain Windows commercial products and cloud services, a part of the More Personal Computing segment that includes volume licensing of the Windows operating system and cloud-based Windows tools.

Microsoft is removing the Power BI data analytics tool and the Enterprise Mobility and Security group of products from a closely watched year-over-year growth metric called Azure and other cloud services.

With those two moving out, the new Azure number “now more closely aligns to consumption business,” Microsoft said in an investor presentation summarizing the changes. Consumption reflects commercial clients actively using computing and storage services in Azure.

But Microsoft is adding revenue from its search and news advertising category — which until now was under More Personal Computing — into Azure and other cloud services.

The company said it expects 33% constant-currency revenue growth for Azure and other cloud services under the new definition for the fiscal first quarter, down 1 to 2 percentage points from the fiscal fourth quarter. In late July, based on the prior Azure definition, the company had called for growth of 28% to 29% at constant currency. Historically, consumption has driven growth in Azure and other cloud services, rather than the per-user tools, where growth in the number of seats has slowed.

“We got more visibility on Azure,” said Jason Ader, an William Blair analyst with the equivalent of a buy rating on Microsoft shares. He cited the removal of the per-user elements of Azure growth that Microsoft has included in the tally for years, making it more difficult to understand consumption.

Amazon discloses revenue for its market-leading Amazon Web Services division, but Microsoft’s financial reporting method for Azure has featured the per-user pieces, meaning that making comparisons is not straightforward.

Additionally, Microsoft said it will give Productivity and Business Processes some revenue stemming from its 2022 Nuance Communications acquisition that has appeared under Intelligent Cloud. And every quarter the company will disclose a combined growth rate for Windows and for devices, instead of communicating them separately, given that these are both PC-oriented.

A new metric called Microsoft 365 Commercial will appear inside the Productivity and Business Processes segment. It will include revenue from Office commercial products and cloud services, Power BI, Enterprise Mobility and Security and Windows commercial products and cloud services. The change comes “to align how the business is managed,” Microsoft said in the presentation.

But with so much going into Productivity and Business Processes, Ader said the company might be making it more difficult for investors to understand the health of core commercial subscriptions for Office productivity software. A slowdown in growth is a “minor concern” among investors, Ader said.

The More Personal Computing segment is picking up revenue from subscriptions to Copilot Pro, which brings generative artificial intelligence capabilities to Word, Excel and other applications for consumers. That revenue has shown up in Productivity and Business Processes since Copilot Pro’s introduction earlier this year.

As a result of the many adjustments, Microsoft now sees $27.75 billion to $28.05 billion in fiscal first-quarter revenue from the Productivity and Business Processes Segment, up from the range of $20.3 billion to $20.6 billion it provided in late July.

The forecast calls for Intelligent Cloud revenue between $23.80 billion and $24.10 billion, down from $28.6 billion to $28.9 billion. And it shows More Personal Computing revenue in the range of $12.25 billion to $12.65 billion, compared with $14.9 billion to $15.3 billion before.

But Microsoft continues to expect around $64.3 billion in revenue across the board. And it does not anticipate change to cost of revenue, operating expenses, other income and expense or tax rate.

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Super Micro shares dive after server maker issues weak preliminary financials

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Super Micro shares dive after server maker issues weak preliminary financials

Super Micro Computer CEO Charles Liang at the Computex conference in Taipei, Taiwan, on June 5, 2024.

Annabelle Chih | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Super Micro shares fell as much as 19% on Tuesday after the server maker announced preliminary results for the fiscal third quarter that were lower than analysts had projected.

Here’s how the company’s preliminary numbers compare with the LSEG consensus:

  • Earnings per share: 29 to 31 cents per share adjusted vs. 54 cents expected
  • Revenue: $4.5 billion to $4.6 billion vs. $5.50 billion expected

Super Micro lowered the ranges from earlier guidance for the quarter, which ended on March 31, according to a statement. The new revenue range implies 18% growth year over year. That’s a large step down from the 200% growth Super Micro delivered a year ago.

“During Q3 some delayed customer platform decisions moved sales into Q4,” the company said in the statement. In addition, the company faced higher inventories from older products, as well as expedite fees. The two factors narrowed Super Micro’s preliminary gross margin by 220 points from the prior quarter.

Shares of server competitor Dell were down almost 5% in after-hours trading, while Hewlett Packard Enterprise was down about 2%. Nvidia shares also fell roughly 2%.

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Super Micro shares over the past year.

The pre-announcement is the latest blow for Super Micro, which has been mired in controversy for the past year due to delayed financial filings and troubling reports from short sellers. In February, the company filed its financials for its fiscal 2024 year and the first two quarters of fiscal 2025 just in time to meet Nasdaq’s deadline to stay listed. Last year, after Super Micro delayed its annual report, it lost its auditor, Ernst & Young, citing governance issues.

After more than tripling in 2023, thanks to the company’s position in the AI boom and its sales of servers packed with Nvidia’s processors, Super Micro shares plummeted in the second third and fourth quarters last year, wiping out more than 80% of its market cap.

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“We have confidence that our calendar year 2025 growth could be a repeat of calendar year 2023, if not better, assuming the supply chain can keep pace with demand,” Charles Liang, Super Micro’s CEO, told analysts on a conference call in February.

Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, the stock was up 18% in 2025, rallying as the broader tech market was in decline.

Super Micro will go over the results with analysts on a conference call at 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday, May 6.

— CNBC’s Ari Levy contributed to this report.

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Snap plunges 13% on ‘headwinds’ to start quarter, inability to offer guidance

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Snap plunges 13% on 'headwinds' to start quarter, inability to offer guidance

Snap CEO Evan Spiegel speaks during the Semafor World Economy Summit 2025 at Conrad Washington in Washington, D.C., on April 23, 2025.

Kayla Bartkowski | Getty Images

Snap reported better-than-expected first-quarter revenue Tuesday but declined to provide guidance, citing macroeconomic uncertainties that could weigh on advertising demand.

Shares dropped 13% in after-hours trading.

Here is how the company did compared with Wall Street’s expectations:

  • Earnings per share: Loss of 8 cents. That figure is not comparable to analysts’ estimates.
  • Revenue: $1.36 billion vs. $1.35 billion expected, according to LSEG 
  • Global daily active users: 460 million vs. 459 million expected, according to StreetAccount
  • Global average revenue per user: $2.96 vs. $2.93 expected, according to StreetAccount

Snap did not offer an outlook for the second quarter, citing uncertainties surrounding “how macro economic conditions may evolve in the months ahead, and how this may impact advertising demand more broadly.”

Analysts had expected $1.39 billion in second-quarter revenue guidance. The company said it expects daily active users to come in near the midpoint of its second-quarter range at 468 million.

“While our topline revenue has continued to grow, we have experienced headwinds to start the current quarter, and we believe it is prudent to continue to balance our level of investment with realized revenue growth,” the company said in a letter to investors.

Like many tech companies, Snap is facing a turbulent macro setup as it grapples with President Donald Trump’s evolving trade plans. Many fear that global trade uncertainty might lead companies to lower guidance or pull back spending this earnings season.

Snap’s cited potential constraints on advertising demand as the reason for holding off on guidance. Ad revenues for the period rose 9% year over year to $1.21 billion. That growth came mainly from direct response advertising. The company also said that brand-oriented advertising revenue dipped 3% from a year ago.

The company isn’t alone. Last Thursday, Alphabet reported first-quarter sales of $90.23 billion, which surpassed Wall Street expectations, but executives told analysts that the company may experience headwinds to its online ad business in the Asia-Pacific region.

Snap lowered its full-year adjusted operating expenses range to between $2.65 billion and $2.70 billion, down from $2.70 billion to $2.75 billion. The company also revised its full-year cost guidance for stock based compensation downward to between $1.13 billion and $1.16 billion from $1.15 billion to $1.20 billion.

Sales in Snap’s first quarter jumped 14% to $1.36 billion from $1.19 billion in the year-ago period. The company reported a net loss of about $140 million, or 8 cents per share. That narrowed 54% from about $305 million, or 19 cents, in the year-ago period. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $108 million, topping a $64 million estimate from StreetAccount.

The company attributed the 8 cents loss to a $70.1 million charge related to cash severance, stock-based compensation expenses and other costs associated with a 2024 restructuring. “These charges are not reflective of underlying trends in our business,” the company said.

Snap posted 460 million daily active users during the period, up from 453 million the previous quarter. The company also said that it reached 900 million monthly active users, up from 850 million in August, the last time Snap provided that stat.

Meta reports its latest earnings on Wednesday, followed by Reddit on Thursday and Pinterest on May 8.

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SpaceX loses bid to control beach access near launch facility in Texas

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SpaceX loses bid to control beach access near launch facility in Texas

SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship booster returns to the launch pad during a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025.

Eric Gay | AP

As SpaceX awaits the results of a critical election that would turn the location of its Starbase launch site into an incorporated Texas city, lawmakers have declined to give Elon Musk’s aerospace company greater control over a main highway and public beach.

Starbase, where the Musk-led company builds and launches its rockets, is located in Boca Chica, Texas, on the Gulf Coast. Residents of the area are voting on whether to turn the small community into a city, with the election scheduled to conclude on Saturday.

On Monday, the Texas House State Affairs Committee voted against a bill that would have given SpaceX greater control over a highway and public beach access in the likely event the company is victorious in its effort to make Starbase into Texas’ newest city. Around 500 people live in the community today, including SpaceX employees and about 120 children, according to the Texas Tribune.

SpaceX has historically needed to close roads and beaches around Starbase in order to conduct test flights and launches, including for its massive Starship rockets, which Musk sees as a prelude to an eventual Mars mission. Closing off access to beaches in the area has required SpaceX to inform and attain permission from authorities in Cameron County, the southernmost county in Texas.

The frequent closures have contributed to legal complaints against SpaceX, and have drawn protests from local residents and activists, including the Carrizo Comecrudo Tribe of Texas, the South Texas Environmental Justice Network and Border Workers United.

Activists in the Rio Grande Valley area, where Starbase is located, protested and formally lobbied against the bills for weeks. Related proposals could be introduced before the legislature meets again next month.

As CNBC has previously reported, SpaceX has conducted test flights or launches that have resulted in fires and harm to sensitive habitat essential to some endangered species in the area.

In one example, SpaceX was fined by the Environmental Protection Agency for polluting waters in Texas in violation of the Clean Water Act. After those fines, Musk threatened to sue the FAA for “regulatory overreach” but never filed a complaint.

Following a front-page New York Times story in July about the damages to local wildlife, including bird habitat, caused by SpaceX, Musk wrote in a post on his social media site X, “To make up for this heinous crime, I will refrain from having omelette for a week.”

That was a week before Musk formally endorsed Donald Trump for president after an assassination attempt on the then-presumptive Republican nominee at a rally in Pennsylvania. Musk then went on to spend nearly $300 million to propel Trump back the White House, and now serves as an advisor to the president with influence over spaceflight and environmental regulations.

In leading the Department of Government Efficiency, Musk has helped gut the ranks of both the Environmental Protection Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration. Under Trump’s EPA, the U.S. has promised to “reconsider” or target dozens of rules for elimination that currently limit air pollution and wastewater from energy, autos and manufacturing sectors.

Tim Hughes, SpaceX’s head of government affairs, didn’t respond to a request for comment, nor did the offices of Republican State Representatives Gina Hinojosa and Janie Lopez, who introduced the bills to give SpaceX local beach control.

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