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***( tldr:*** *While Google is getting alot of news, this company has a 4T market cap and is seeing its sales accelerate. Now it is Changing how it reports cloud/ai to investors.)*
**This subtle Microsoft change could be a big win for investors**
The tech giant is altering how it reports the performance of different business categories in a way that analysts say will make it easier to gauge AI and Azure momentum
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-subtle-microsoft-change-could-be-a-big-win-for-investors-bfacfb17
By Hannah Pedone
Sept. 3, 2026, 4:37 p.m. ET
Microsoft is changing its reporting structure and metrics, according to an SEC filing.
Key Points
Microsoft is changing its financial reporting structure to report under two segments: Agents and Infra, and Devices and Consumer.
The new structure will explicitly report Microsoft’s Azure cloud-computing business, which analysts say will increase transparency for investors.
Microsoft shares rose nearly 3% on Thursday following the announcement.
Life is getting a bit easier for investors trying to gauge how Microsoft’s business is benefiting from artificial intelligence.
In light of the company’s focus on AI, Microsoft is changing up the way it reports its different business segments, according to an [investor presentation deck](https://microsoft.gcs-web.com/static-files/6f77f14c-9bdd-49c1-bfa3-1dbe8d872424) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.
Microsoft will now report using two segments: One will be named Agents and Infra, and the other will be called Devices and Consumer. Previously, the company had three segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing.
The change is more than just a reshuffling of line items. Through the new structure, which officially goes into play with the company’s next earnings report, Microsoft’s Azure cloud-computing business will be more “explicitly reported,” according to Bernstein analyst Mark Moerdler. That “makes sense given the size of the business and its criticality to the company and their customers,” he said.
StoneX analyst Yi Fu Lee told MarketWatch that the new disclosure framework is “long overdue” and aligns better with how the company is operating in the AI era.
“Investors have long wanted greater transparency around Azure, and the new format takes a meaningful step in that direction,” Lee said.
Moerdler believes that Microsoft’s new reporting structure will help investors parse the performance of the Azure cloud business in an even “cleaner” way than what the company’s major competitors do when they bundle professional services and other offerings into their cloud segments.
The new Azure breakout “should help with clarity on this key part of the business,” Moerdler noted.
To be sure, Microsoft’s new reporting structure won’t directly break out how much business comes from Azure’s AI efforts. But Moerdler said he and his team “understand why it is difficult to break the number out” unless Microsoft were to only capture Azure revenue opportunity tied to graphics processing units.
The Bernstein analyst also highlighted that the Azure growth rate will slow slightly as Microsoft moves GitHub Cloud out of the Azure reporting structure and into the Microsoft Commercial Cloud category instead.
“There’s no question AI represents a profound shift in both technology and business,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote in the presentation deck. “It is changing what we build and how we operate, and it is blurring the boundaries between our products and reshaping our business models.
“To reflect this and provide increased transparency to investors, we are updating our financial reporting to mirror how the business is operating, how we allocate resources and where we are headed,” he added.
StoneX’s Lee sees Microsoft “organizing around what it believes are the primary value-creation layers of the AI technology,” rather than “managing the business through legacy product-based silos.”
The change comes after Microsoft previously altered its reporting categories [in late 2024](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/microsofts-earnings-are-about-to-look-pretty-weird-heres-what-to-know-c9dd92c6?).
Shares of Microsoft rose 2.7% on Thursday.