CLAIM #44856 · Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) · 2026Q1 earnings call · Oct 29, 2025 · due Jan 31, 2026
“In commercial bookings, we expect healthy growth in the core business on a low expiry base when adjusted for the OpenAI contracts in the prior year.”
Amy Hood · CFO
How to check this claim
Look at: Commercial bookings growth rate (year-over-year), as reported by Microsoft
It came true if: Commercial bookings growth (core business, adjusted for OpenAI contract comparisons) > prior year's reported growth rate, i.e., positive/healthy y/y growth
Where: Microsoft quarterly earnings release and 10-Q, commercial bookings disclosure (Q2 FY26 report / earnings call)
In context
“ngoing nature of our partnership will result in increased volatility. Therefore, going forward, we'll provide our outlook, excluding any impact from our investments in OpenAI. On that basis, in Q2, other income and expense is estimated to be roughly $100 million as interest income will more than offset interest expense. And we expect our Q2 effective tax rate to be approximately 19%. Next, capital expenditures. With accelerating demand and a growing RPO balance, we're increasing our spend on GPUs and CPUs. Therefore, total spend will increase sequentially, and we now expect the FY '26 growth rate to be higher than FY '25. As a reminder, there can be quarterly spend variability from cloud infrastructure build-outs and the timing of delivery of finance leases. Next, our commercial business. In commercial bookings, we expect healthy growth in the core business on a low expiry base when adjusted for the OpenAI contracts in the prior year. And we expect commercial bookings will be positively impacted by the significant OpenAI commitments announced yesterday. As a reminder, larger long-term Azure contracts, which are more unpredictable in their timing, drive increased quarterly volatility in our bookings growth rate. Microsoft Cloud gross margin percentage should be roughly 66%, down year-over-year, driven by the continued investments in AI as well as the mix shift to Azure. Now to segment guidance. In Productivity and Business Processes, we expect revenue of USD 33.3 billion to USD 33.6 billion or growth of 13% to 14%. In M365 Commercial Cloud, we expect revenue growth to be between 13% and 14% in constant currency, with business trends that remain relatively stable quarter-over-quarter. ARPU growth will again be driven by”
Verify independently
SEC filings for MSFT ↗ · Claim quote is verbatim from the 2026Q1 earnings call.