The Microsoft Surface tablet and the firm's cloud computing platform has helped the company have a highly profitable quarter.
In the three months to September, the company's financial records showed it made a $4.7billion (£3.8bn) profit – with shares rising once the announcement had been made.
Driving Microsoft's performance was its focus on "digital", the firm's chief executive Satya Nadella said.
"It's not just the Silicon Valley startups anymore; it is the core enterprise that is also becoming a digital company. And we are well-positioned to serve them," Nadella said.
"We continue to innovate, grow engagement, and build our total addressable market."
Revenue coming from Microsoft's Office 365 cloud service jumped eight per cent compared to the previous quarter and its Surface tablet was even more successful. Revenue from the device rose 38 per cent.
Sales of the Surface devices reached $926m (£757m) a huge jump from $672m (£549m) from the same quarter the year before. In particular, Nadella highlighted increased sales of the Surface Pro 4 – which had its price cut two days ago – and Surface Book. There was also an increase in large volume sales to businesses.
"Microsoft returned $6.6 billion to shareholders in the form of share repurchases and dividends in the first quarter of fiscal year 2017," the company said in its statement.
It also confirmed that Microsoft was still expecting to complete its purchase of LinkedIn and also the sale of its "entry-level feature phone business" before the end of the year.
In June, Microsoft announced it would be buying the professional social network for £18bn. The two firms entered into a "definitive agreement" that will see Microsoft purchase the social network in an all-cash deal as long as regulatory hurdles are met.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
