Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated to board members and other executives last year that the software business expects to more than double from its present size to $500 billion in sales by the 2030 fiscal year.
The remarks, which predicted at least 10% yearly revenue growth, were found in a document that was made public on Monday as part of Microsoft’s federal court case on its impending acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft, one of the most valuable firms in the world, doesn’t frequently release financial forecasts that are several years in the future. The firm only gave guidance for the present period, which is the fiscal fourth quarter, on its most recent earnings call.
In addition, Nadella provided a prediction for shareholder returns, which include dividends and share buybacks.
“We believe this ambition and approach will help us deliver in excess of 10% annual returns to our shareholders over that timeframe,” Nadella stated in the memo dated June 7, 2022, weeks before the conclusion of the fiscal year.
For the fiscal year 2022 and succeeding years, Nadella outlined a goal of “20/20,” which calls for a 20% increase in operating profitability and a corresponding 20% increase in sales. Microsoft ended up growing its top line by 18% to $198.27 billion and its operating income by 19% in 2022.
In the memo, Nadella referred to consumer-oriented goods as Microsoft Plus. The Azure public cloud, which competes with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, the Microsoft 365 productivity software, and some of LinkedIn are all included in the Microsoft Cloud, according to him, which is the primary driver of growth.
In the accompanying document, Nadella stated, “Our aim is to continue growth above the market rate to increase our advantage over GCP and reduce the gap with AWS.
The $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision by Microsoft is being fought by the Federal Trade Commission.