The Surprising Ways Amazon, Apple and Microsoft Really Make …

The way in which the Bill Gates-founded company divides its operations has changed in recent years and is now divided into three segments.

The most profitable is “Productivity and Business Processes,” which encompasses Microsoft Office (commercial and consumer), LinkedIn and Dynamics (enterprise software). In fiscal year 2017 (ending June 30, 2017), Microsoft’s operating profit from this category was $11.9 billion. This amount increased $4 billion from fiscal year 2016 to fiscal year 2017, with $2.3 billion of that increase attributed to Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn. However, Microsoft’s operating expenses related to the LinkedIn acquisition were also $2.3 billion, according to the SEC filing.

The “Intelligent Cloud” segment saw $27.4 billion in revenues and $9.1 billion in profits in fiscal year 2017. This category includes “public, private, and hybrid server products and cloud services,” according to the company.

Then there’s the “More Personal Computing” category, which factors in Windows, Microsoft devices (such as the Microsoft Surface and PC accessories), gaming and Bing search advertising. In fiscal year 2017, this category brought in largest chunk of revenue, $38.8 billion, and $8.3 billion when adjusted for profit.

Revenue from Microsoft Office was $25.4 billion in fiscal year 2017, while Xbox brought in $9.3 billion, the Windows operating system brought in $8.6 billion and devices brought in $4.6 billion.