Microsoft posts the biggest one day market cap gain on record as Azure’s AI growth hits 43 percent

4:15 PM PT · July 31, 2026

Microsoft’s fiscal fourth quarter results, published Wednesday, showed $90 billion in revenue, an 18 percent year over year increase, with operating income rising to $40.6 billion and net income reaching $35.8 billion under GAAP, a 31 percent jump. Azure and other cloud services revenue grew 43 percent, ahead of the roughly 40 percent Wall Street had modeled and the fastest pace of growth for the unit in four years, as demand for AI compute continued to outstrip supply. Net income and earnings per share also got a modest lift from Microsoft’s investment stake in OpenAI, adding about $480 million and $0.07 a share in the quarter. Shares jumped about 15.5 percent the following day, adding close to $492 billion in market value in a single session, the largest one day gain by any company on record. Nadella told investors that Microsoft 365 Copilot has surpassed 30 million paid seats, up sharply from prior quarters, and that the company is consolidating its various Copilot products into one experience spanning consumer and commercial use, saying Copilot is “evolving rapidly from chat to Cowork to autopilots.” The results land Microsoft squarely at the center of the AI infrastructure boom, even as rivals including Meta have posted weaker cash flow from their own AI spending in the same reporting period.