Microsoft's AI Assistant Soars Past 30 Million Paid Seats
Microsoft's Copilot AI assistant for office work is gaining traction at an unprecedented rate. In its latest earnings call, Microsoft revealed that it has surpassed 30 million paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats, a 50% increase in just three months.
The company added around 5 million new seats in the fiscal third quarter and then more than doubled that number to around 10 million in the fourth quarter. To reach its predicted goal of 60 million paid Copilot seats by June 2027, Microsoft will need to add approximately 7.5 million net new seats per quarter.
Microsoft's Copilot growth is not just about seat numbers; it's also boosting revenue per user. The company credits the growth in revenue per user to Microsoft 365 Copilot and its E5 offering. Across products and cloud services, the Microsoft 365 commercial business generated around $102 billion for the year, up 16%.
The AI infrastructure costs associated with Copilot's seat and usage growth led to a 12% increase in cost of revenue in the productivity and business processes segment. However, the segment's operating income still climbed 20%. Microsoft stock is currently priced at around $509.22, reflecting its AI success, according to some analysts.