LinkedInWide moat

Microsoft (MSFT) — moat facet

A $27.0 billion purchase that now takes in about three-quarters of its price every year, recovering on advertising while the hiring products follow.

LinkedIn is the acquisition in Microsoft's revenue table whose numbers argue for themselves. It brought in $19.8 billion in fiscal 2026, 6.0% of the company1, up $2.0 billion or 11%, "with growth across all lines of business"2. Microsoft paid $27.0 billion for it, completing the purchase on 8 December 20163, so the network now takes in about 73% of its purchase price every year4.

LinkedIn revenue by quarter ($B)4.3Q1'254.6Q24.3Q34.6Q44.7Q1'265.1Q24.8Q35.2Q4Microsoft 10-Qs; Q4 = fiscal year (10-K) less nine months
Growth quickened through fiscal 2026 to 12% in June, the line's largest quarter.

Four products make up the line: Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Premium Subscriptions and Sales Solutions5. Three are subscriptions. Recruiters pay for Talent Solutions, salespeople for Sales Solutions and ambitious members for Premium. The fourth is advertising: Marketing Solutions sells sponsored content in the feed, and its revenue depends on member engagement and the quality of what is delivered6. The free network of profiles is what all four sell access to.

The history is a steady climb from a partial first year. LinkedIn contributed $2.3 billion in fiscal 2017, then $5.3 billion in fiscal 2018 and $6.8 billion in fiscal 20197, $8.1 billion in fiscal 2020 and $10.3 billion in fiscal 20218. Fiscal 2022 was the peak year for growth: revenue rose 34% to $13.8 billion, driven by "a strong job market in our Talent Solutions business and advertising demand in our Marketing Solutions business"9. The network had over 850 million members that year10 and over 950 million a year later11; the filings have not given a count since.

After fiscal 2022 growth came down to the single digits and stayed there for two years. On the current basis revenue grew 9.2% in fiscal 2024, 8.8% in fiscal 2025 and 11.3% in fiscal 202612. The filings explain fiscal 2022's surge with the job market and give no matching reason for the slowdown, except that fiscal 2023's 10% was driven by Talent Solutions13. The likeliest reading is the same job market running the other way: recruiters buy fewer seats when their employers are hiring less. That is an inference; the filings leave it one. From fiscal 2019 to fiscal 2026 the line compounded at about 16.6% a year on the figures as reported at the time14.

Fiscal 2026 turned faster through the year. Growth was 9.8% in September, 10.8% in December, 12.1% in March and 12.3% in June15. The first two quarters' growth was driven by Marketing Solutions1617; by March it was across all lines of business18. Advertising leading the recovery matters, because it does not depend on anyone hiring.

The June 2026 quarter was LinkedIn's largest, $5.2 billion against $4.6 billion a year before19. In fiscal 2024 the growth came from all four products, Talent Solutions, Premium Subscriptions, Marketing Solutions and Sales Solutions20, so no single product was carrying the line. The commercial part of LinkedIn also counts toward Microsoft Cloud21, a reminder that Microsoft regards the recruiter and sales seats as the same kind of business as Office: software rented per user to a company.

LinkedIn's profit is not disclosed either. The line reports into Productivity and Business Processes, the segment that earned 59.9% of revenue in fiscal 202622, beside Office and Dynamics, and the segment figure says nothing about which of its lines carry the margin.

The 10-K's list of LinkedIn's competitors is unusually long: online professional networks; recruiting, talent management and human resource services companies; job boards; companies selling learning and development; outlets that sell advertising; and companies selling lead generation and customer intelligence23. Each of the four products faces its own set of rivals, and none of them faces one that owns the member profiles. That is the whole moat in a sentence: the competitors sell one of the four things LinkedIn sells, and LinkedIn sells all four to the same network.

The line has no other page in this collection, which is a fair reflection of how rarely it decides anything about Microsoft: 6% of revenue, steady, profitable enough not to be mentioned. Its moat is the oldest kind, a network that had more than 950 million members at the last count the filings gave.

Quarterly growth against the 10% line is the thing to follow. It crossed it in December 2025 and has stayed above since. A slip back below 10% in a year when Marketing Solutions is still the driver would say advertising is doing the work hiring used to do, and that the network's paid products have stopped growing on their own.

Moat trajectory: Holding steady

Growth recovered from 8.8% in fiscal 2025 to 11.3% and quickened each quarter to 12.3% in June, led by Marketing Solutions; the hiring products have not yet returned to the growth of fiscal 2022.

The number that tests this moat
Moat Explorer calc
LinkedIn revenue, June 2026 quarter
$5,189M, +12.3% year on year

Growth quickened in each quarter of fiscal 2026 from 9.8%, first on Marketing Solutions and then across all lines. A slip back below 10% would say the recovery rested on advertising alone.

How it's calculated: Fourth-quarter revenue = FY2026 revenue in the Form 10-K less the nine-month figure in the Q3 FY2026 Form 10-Q; the year-earlier quarter is computed the same way from the FY2025 figures.
Source: Microsoft Form 10-K FY2026 and Form 10-Q Q3 FY2026 ↗
References
  1. ReportedIt brought in $19.8 billion in fiscal 2026, 6.0% of the company, up $2.0 billion or 11%, "with growth across all lines of business".
    Microsoft Form 10-K, FY2026 — Note: revenue by significant product and service offering, FY2024-FY2026 (Server products and cloud services $129,425M / $98,435M / $79,828M; Microsoft 365 Commercial $101,997M / $87,767M / $76,969M; XBOX $21,790M / $23,455M / $21,503M; LinkedIn $19,817M / $17,812M / $16,372M; Windows and Devices $17,084M / $17,314M / $17,026M; Search advertising $15,176M / $13,878M / $12,306M; Microsoft 365 Consumer $9,175M / $7,404M / $6,648M; Dynamics $9,006M / $7,827M / $6,831M; Enterprise and partner services $8,260M / $7,760M / $7,594M; Other $109M / $72M / $45M; total $331,839M); Microsoft Cloud revenue $214.4B, $168.9B and $137.7B, drawn from four of the lines; additions to property and equipment $115,948M — FY2024-FY2026 · publ. July 29, 2026 · source ↗
  2. ReportedIt brought in $19.8 billion in fiscal 2026, 6.0% of the company, up $2.0 billion or 11%, "with growth across all lines of business".
    Microsoft Form 10-K, FY2026 — Item 7 MD&A: segment results (Productivity and Business Processes revenue $139,996M, cost of revenue $25,017M, operating income $83,879M; Intelligent Cloud $137,791M, $57,876M, $56,972M; More Personal Computing $54,052M, $23,481M, $14,386M) and the drivers of each line: Server products and cloud services +$31.0B or 31% (Azure +41%, server products +1%); Microsoft 365 Commercial +$14.2B or 16% (cloud +17% on seats +6%, products +13%); Microsoft 365 Consumer +$1.8B or 24% (cloud +28% on subscribers +7%); LinkedIn +$2.0B or 11%; Dynamics +$1.2B or 15% (Dynamics 365 +18%); Enterprise and partner services +$500M or 6%; Windows and Devices -$230M or 1% (Windows OEM +5%); XBOX -$1.7B or 7% (content and services -5%, hardware -29%); Search advertising +$1.3B or 9% (ex-TAC +12%); the Microsoft 365 Consumer subscriber metric removed — FY2026 · publ. July 29, 2026 · source ↗
  3. ReportedMicrosoft paid $27.0 billion for it, completing the purchase on 8 December 2016, so the network now takes in about 73% of its purchase price every year.
    Microsoft Form 10-K, FY2019 — revenue by offering FY2017-FY2019 (Server products and cloud services $21,649M / $26,129M / $32,622M; Office products and cloud services $25,573M / $28,316M / $31,769M; Windows $18,593M / $19,518M / $20,395M; Gaming $9,051M / $10,353M / $11,386M; Search advertising $6,219M / $7,012M / $7,628M; LinkedIn $2,271M / $5,259M / $6,754M; Enterprise Services $5,542M / $5,846M / $6,124M); LinkedIn acquired 8 December 2016 for $27.0B; GitHub acquired 25 October 2018 for $7.5B — FY2017-FY2019 · publ. August 1, 2019 · source ↗
  4. Moat Explorer calcMicrosoft paid $27.0 billion for it, completing the purchase on 8 December 2016, so the network now takes in about 73% of its purchase price every year.
    Moat Explorer calculation from Microsoft Forms 10-K (FY2017-FY2026) and 10-Q (FY2025-FY2026): growth = year / prior year - 1 on the revenue-by-offering tables; compound rates = (end / start)^(1/years) - 1; quarterly revenue for the fourth quarter = fiscal-year revenue less the nine-month figure in the third-quarter 10-Q; segment margins = segment operating income / segment revenue and gross margin = (segment revenue - cost of revenue) / segment revenue (Intelligent Cloud $57,853M / $87,464M = 66.1% in FY2024, $66,094M / $106,265M = 62.2% in FY2025, $79,915M / $137,791M = 58.0% in FY2026); share of FY2026 growth = line increase / total increase of $50,115M (Server products and cloud services $30,990M plus Microsoft 365 Commercial $14,230M = 90.2%); shares of revenue = line / total — FY2017-FY2026 · publ. 2026 · source ↗
    Method: Moat Explorer calculation from the revenue-by-offering tables and segment results in Microsoft's Forms 10-K and 10-Q; see the source line for the method.
  5. ReportedFour products make up the line: Talent Solutions, Marketing Solutions, Premium Subscriptions and Sales Solutions.
    Microsoft Form 10-K, FY2026 — Item 1 Business: what each segment and line comprises, what drives each line's revenue (Azure consumption, per-user Microsoft 365 and Dynamics, Windows OEM licensing factors, XBOX content and subscriptions, LinkedIn's four products), the fiscal 2026 renaming of Gaming to XBOX and of Search and news advertising to Search advertising, and each line's competition — FY2026 · publ. July 29, 2026 · source ↗
  6. ReportedThe fourth is advertising: Marketing Solutions sells sponsored content in the feed, and its revenue depends on member engagement and the quality of what is delivered.
    Microsoft Form 10-K, FY2026 — Item 1 Business: what each segment and line comprises, what drives each line's revenue (Azure consumption, per-user Microsoft 365 and Dynamics, Windows OEM licensing factors, XBOX content and subscriptions, LinkedIn's four products), the fiscal 2026 renaming of Gaming to XBOX and of Search and news advertising to Search advertising, and each line's competition — FY2026 · publ. July 29, 2026 · source ↗
  7. ReportedLinkedIn contributed $2.3 billion in fiscal 2017, then $5.3 billion in fiscal 2018 and $6.8 billion in fiscal 2019, $8.1 billion in fiscal 2020 and $10.3 billion in fiscal 2021.
    Microsoft Form 10-K, FY2019 — revenue by offering FY2017-FY2019 (Server products and cloud services $21,649M / $26,129M / $32,622M; Office products and cloud services $25,573M / $28,316M / $31,769M; Windows $18,593M / $19,518M / $20,395M; Gaming $9,051M / $10,353M / $11,386M; Search advertising $6,219M / $7,012M / $7,628M; LinkedIn $2,271M / $5,259M / $6,754M; Enterprise Services $5,542M / $5,846M / $6,124M); LinkedIn acquired 8 December 2016 for $27.0B; GitHub acquired 25 October 2018 for $7.5B — FY2017-FY2019 · publ. August 1, 2019 · source ↗
  8. ReportedLinkedIn contributed $2.3 billion in fiscal 2017, then $5.3 billion in fiscal 2018 and $6.8 billion in fiscal 2019, $8.1 billion in fiscal 2020 and $10.3 billion in fiscal 2021.
    Microsoft Form 10-K, FY2022 — revenue by offering FY2020-FY2022 (Server products and cloud services $41,379M / $52,589M / $67,321M; Office products and cloud services $44,862M in FY2022; Windows $24,761M; Gaming $11,575M / $15,370M / $16,230M; LinkedIn $8,077M / $10,289M / $13,816M; Search and news advertising $8,524M / $9,267M / $11,591M; Enterprise Services $6,409M / $6,943M / $7,407M); FY2022 drivers (Azure +45%, LinkedIn +34%, Office Consumer +11% with subscribers 59.7 million, Dynamics +25% on Dynamics 365 +39%, Windows OEM +11%, search +25% and ex-TAC +27%, Surface +3%); Nuance acquired 4 March 2022 for $18.8B; ZeniMax $8.1B; Xandr acquired 6 June 2022; LinkedIn over 850 million members — FY2020-FY2022 · publ. July 28, 2022 · source ↗
  9. ReportedFiscal 2022 was the peak year for growth: revenue rose 34% to $13.8 billion, driven by "a strong job market in our Talent Solutions business and advertising demand in our Marketing Solutions business".
    Microsoft Form 10-K, FY2022 — revenue by offering FY2020-FY2022 (Server products and cloud services $41,379M / $52,589M / $67,321M; Office products and cloud services $44,862M in FY2022; Windows $24,761M; Gaming $11,575M / $15,370M / $16,230M; LinkedIn $8,077M / $10,289M / $13,816M; Search and news advertising $8,524M / $9,267M / $11,591M; Enterprise Services $6,409M / $6,943M / $7,407M); FY2022 drivers (Azure +45%, LinkedIn +34%, Office Consumer +11% with subscribers 59.7 million, Dynamics +25% on Dynamics 365 +39%, Windows OEM +11%, search +25% and ex-TAC +27%, Surface +3%); Nuance acquired 4 March 2022 for $18.8B; ZeniMax $8.1B; Xandr acquired 6 June 2022; LinkedIn over 850 million members — FY2020-FY2022 · publ. July 28, 2022 · source ↗
  10. ReportedThe network had over 850 million members that year and over 950 million a year later; the filings have not given a count since.
    Microsoft Form 10-K, FY2022 — revenue by offering FY2020-FY2022 (Server products and cloud services $41,379M / $52,589M / $67,321M; Office products and cloud services $44,862M in FY2022; Windows $24,761M; Gaming $11,575M / $15,370M / $16,230M; LinkedIn $8,077M / $10,289M / $13,816M; Search and news advertising $8,524M / $9,267M / $11,591M; Enterprise Services $6,409M / $6,943M / $7,407M); FY2022 drivers (Azure +45%, LinkedIn +34%, Office Consumer +11% with subscribers 59.7 million, Dynamics +25% on Dynamics 365 +39%, Windows OEM +11%, search +25% and ex-TAC +27%, Surface +3%); Nuance acquired 4 March 2022 for $18.8B; ZeniMax $8.1B; Xandr acquired 6 June 2022; LinkedIn over 850 million members — FY2020-FY2022 · publ. July 28, 2022 · source ↗
  11. ReportedThe network had over 850 million members that year and over 950 million a year later; the filings have not given a count since.
    Microsoft Form 10-K, FY2023 — FY2023 drivers (Azure +29%, server products -1%, Office 365 Commercial +13% on seats +11%, Office Commercial products -21%, Office Consumer +2% with subscribers 67.0 million, LinkedIn +10% on Talent Solutions and over 950 million members, Dynamics +16% on Dynamics 365 +24%, Windows OEM -25% and Devices -24% on elevated channel inventory, Gaming -5%, search +5% and ex-TAC +11% helped by Xandr, Enterprise Services +4% with Industry Solutions formerly Microsoft Consulting Services) — FY2023 · publ. July 27, 2023 · source ↗
  12. Moat Explorer calcOn the current basis revenue grew 9.2% in fiscal 2024, 8.8% in fiscal 2025 and 11.3% in fiscal 2026.
    Moat Explorer calculation from Microsoft Forms 10-K (FY2017-FY2026) and 10-Q (FY2025-FY2026): growth = year / prior year - 1 on the revenue-by-offering tables; compound rates = (end / start)^(1/years) - 1; quarterly revenue for the fourth quarter = fiscal-year revenue less the nine-month figure in the third-quarter 10-Q; segment margins = segment operating income / segment revenue and gross margin = (segment revenue - cost of revenue) / segment revenue (Intelligent Cloud $57,853M / $87,464M = 66.1% in FY2024, $66,094M / $106,265M = 62.2% in FY2025, $79,915M / $137,791M = 58.0% in FY2026); share of FY2026 growth = line increase / total increase of $50,115M (Server products and cloud services $30,990M plus Microsoft 365 Commercial $14,230M = 90.2%); shares of revenue = line / total — FY2017-FY2026 · publ. 2026 · source ↗
    Method: Moat Explorer calculation from the revenue-by-offering tables and segment results in Microsoft's Forms 10-K and 10-Q; see the source line for the method.
  13. ReportedThe filings explain fiscal 2022's surge with the job market and give no matching reason for the slowdown, except that fiscal 2023's 10% was driven by Talent Solutions.
    Microsoft Form 10-K, FY2023 — FY2023 drivers (Azure +29%, server products -1%, Office 365 Commercial +13% on seats +11%, Office Commercial products -21%, Office Consumer +2% with subscribers 67.0 million, LinkedIn +10% on Talent Solutions and over 950 million members, Dynamics +16% on Dynamics 365 +24%, Windows OEM -25% and Devices -24% on elevated channel inventory, Gaming -5%, search +5% and ex-TAC +11% helped by Xandr, Enterprise Services +4% with Industry Solutions formerly Microsoft Consulting Services) — FY2023 · publ. July 27, 2023 · source ↗
  14. Moat Explorer calcFrom fiscal 2019 to fiscal 2026 the line compounded at about 16.6% a year on the figures as reported at the time.
    Moat Explorer calculation from Microsoft Forms 10-K (FY2017-FY2026) and 10-Q (FY2025-FY2026): growth = year / prior year - 1 on the revenue-by-offering tables; compound rates = (end / start)^(1/years) - 1; quarterly revenue for the fourth quarter = fiscal-year revenue less the nine-month figure in the third-quarter 10-Q; segment margins = segment operating income / segment revenue and gross margin = (segment revenue - cost of revenue) / segment revenue (Intelligent Cloud $57,853M / $87,464M = 66.1% in FY2024, $66,094M / $106,265M = 62.2% in FY2025, $79,915M / $137,791M = 58.0% in FY2026); share of FY2026 growth = line increase / total increase of $50,115M (Server products and cloud services $30,990M plus Microsoft 365 Commercial $14,230M = 90.2%); shares of revenue = line / total — FY2017-FY2026 · publ. 2026 · source ↗
    Method: Moat Explorer calculation from the revenue-by-offering tables and segment results in Microsoft's Forms 10-K and 10-Q; see the source line for the method.
  15. Moat Explorer calcGrowth was 9.8% in September, 10.8% in December, 12.1% in March and 12.3% in June.
    Moat Explorer calculation from Microsoft Forms 10-K (FY2017-FY2026) and 10-Q (FY2025-FY2026): growth = year / prior year - 1 on the revenue-by-offering tables; compound rates = (end / start)^(1/years) - 1; quarterly revenue for the fourth quarter = fiscal-year revenue less the nine-month figure in the third-quarter 10-Q; segment margins = segment operating income / segment revenue and gross margin = (segment revenue - cost of revenue) / segment revenue (Intelligent Cloud $57,853M / $87,464M = 66.1% in FY2024, $66,094M / $106,265M = 62.2% in FY2025, $79,915M / $137,791M = 58.0% in FY2026); share of FY2026 growth = line increase / total increase of $50,115M (Server products and cloud services $30,990M plus Microsoft 365 Commercial $14,230M = 90.2%); shares of revenue = line / total — FY2017-FY2026 · publ. 2026 · source ↗
    Method: Moat Explorer calculation from the revenue-by-offering tables and segment results in Microsoft's Forms 10-K and 10-Q; see the source line for the method.
  16. ReportedThe first two quarters' growth was driven by Marketing Solutions; by March it was across all lines of business.
    Microsoft Form 10-Q, quarter ended 30 September 2025 — revenue by offering for the quarter and a year earlier, and the drivers (Azure +40%, Windows Server 2025, Windows OEM +18% ahead of Windows 10 end of support, Xbox hardware -29%, LinkedIn +10% on Marketing Solutions, search ex-TAC +16%, Microsoft 365 Commercial products +17% on Office 2024, Industry Solutions decline) — Q1 FY2026 · publ. October 29, 2025 · source ↗
  17. ReportedThe first two quarters' growth was driven by Marketing Solutions; by March it was across all lines of business.
    Microsoft Form 10-Q, quarter ended 31 December 2025 — revenue by offering for the quarter, six months and a year earlier, and the drivers (Azure +39%, SQL Server 2025, Windows OEM +5% with continued benefit from Windows 10 end of support, Xbox hardware -32%, LinkedIn +11% on Marketing Solutions, search ex-TAC +10%, impairment charges in Gaming) — Q2 FY2026 · publ. January 28, 2026 · source ↗
  18. ReportedThe first two quarters' growth was driven by Marketing Solutions; by March it was across all lines of business.
    Microsoft Form 10-Q, quarter ended 31 March 2026 — revenue by offering for the quarter, nine months and a year earlier, and the drivers (Azure +40%, Microsoft 365 Commercial cloud +19% and products +1%, Microsoft 365 Consumer cloud +33%, LinkedIn +12% across all lines, Dynamics 365 +22%, OEMs building inventory on rising memory prices, Xbox hardware -33%, search ex-TAC +12%) — Q3 FY2026 · publ. April 29, 2026 · source ↗
  19. Moat Explorer calcThe June 2026 quarter was LinkedIn's largest, $5.2 billion against $4.6 billion a year before.
    Moat Explorer calculation from Microsoft Forms 10-K (FY2017-FY2026) and 10-Q (FY2025-FY2026): growth = year / prior year - 1 on the revenue-by-offering tables; compound rates = (end / start)^(1/years) - 1; quarterly revenue for the fourth quarter = fiscal-year revenue less the nine-month figure in the third-quarter 10-Q; segment margins = segment operating income / segment revenue and gross margin = (segment revenue - cost of revenue) / segment revenue (Intelligent Cloud $57,853M / $87,464M = 66.1% in FY2024, $66,094M / $106,265M = 62.2% in FY2025, $79,915M / $137,791M = 58.0% in FY2026); share of FY2026 growth = line increase / total increase of $50,115M (Server products and cloud services $30,990M plus Microsoft 365 Commercial $14,230M = 90.2%); shares of revenue = line / total — FY2017-FY2026 · publ. 2026 · source ↗
    Method: Moat Explorer calculation from the revenue-by-offering tables and segment results in Microsoft's Forms 10-K and 10-Q; see the source line for the method.
  20. ReportedIn fiscal 2024 the growth came from all four products, Talent Solutions, Premium Subscriptions, Marketing Solutions and Sales Solutions, so no single product was carrying the line.
    Microsoft Form 10-K, FY2024 — revenue by offering FY2022-FY2024 on the pre-recast basis (Server products and cloud services $79,970M in FY2023; Office products and cloud services $54,875M in FY2024; Dynamics $4,687M in FY2022 and $5,437M in FY2023); FY2024 drivers (Azure +30%, seats +7%, Office 365 Commercial +16%, Office Commercial products -16%, Office Consumer +4% with subscribers 82.5 million, LinkedIn +9% across all four lines of business, Dynamics +19%, Windows OEM +7%, Devices -15%, Gaming +39% with 44 points of net impact from Activision Blizzard, Xbox hardware -13%, search ex-TAC +12%, Enterprise and partner services -4%); Activision Blizzard acquired 13 October 2023 for $75.4B — FY2022-FY2024 · publ. July 30, 2024 · source ↗
  21. ReportedThe commercial part of LinkedIn also counts toward Microsoft Cloud, a reminder that Microsoft regards the recruiter and sales seats as the same kind of business as Office: software rented per user to a company.
    Microsoft Form 10-K, FY2026 — Note: revenue by significant product and service offering, FY2024-FY2026 (Server products and cloud services $129,425M / $98,435M / $79,828M; Microsoft 365 Commercial $101,997M / $87,767M / $76,969M; XBOX $21,790M / $23,455M / $21,503M; LinkedIn $19,817M / $17,812M / $16,372M; Windows and Devices $17,084M / $17,314M / $17,026M; Search advertising $15,176M / $13,878M / $12,306M; Microsoft 365 Consumer $9,175M / $7,404M / $6,648M; Dynamics $9,006M / $7,827M / $6,831M; Enterprise and partner services $8,260M / $7,760M / $7,594M; Other $109M / $72M / $45M; total $331,839M); Microsoft Cloud revenue $214.4B, $168.9B and $137.7B, drawn from four of the lines; additions to property and equipment $115,948M — FY2024-FY2026 · publ. July 29, 2026 · source ↗
  22. Moat Explorer calcThe line reports into Productivity and Business Processes, the segment that earned 59.9% of revenue in fiscal 2026, beside Office and Dynamics, and the segment figure says nothing about which of its lines carry the margin.
    Moat Explorer calculation from Microsoft Forms 10-K (FY2017-FY2026) and 10-Q (FY2025-FY2026): growth = year / prior year - 1 on the revenue-by-offering tables; compound rates = (end / start)^(1/years) - 1; quarterly revenue for the fourth quarter = fiscal-year revenue less the nine-month figure in the third-quarter 10-Q; segment margins = segment operating income / segment revenue and gross margin = (segment revenue - cost of revenue) / segment revenue (Intelligent Cloud $57,853M / $87,464M = 66.1% in FY2024, $66,094M / $106,265M = 62.2% in FY2025, $79,915M / $137,791M = 58.0% in FY2026); share of FY2026 growth = line increase / total increase of $50,115M (Server products and cloud services $30,990M plus Microsoft 365 Commercial $14,230M = 90.2%); shares of revenue = line / total — FY2017-FY2026 · publ. 2026 · source ↗
    Method: Moat Explorer calculation from the revenue-by-offering tables and segment results in Microsoft's Forms 10-K and 10-Q; see the source line for the method.
  23. ReportedThe 10-K's list of LinkedIn's competitors is unusually long: online professional networks; recruiting, talent management and human resource services companies; job boards; companies selling learning and development; outlets that sell advertising; and companies selling lead generation and customer intelligence.
    Microsoft Form 10-K, FY2026 — Item 1 Business: what each segment and line comprises, what drives each line's revenue (Azure consumption, per-user Microsoft 365 and Dynamics, Windows OEM licensing factors, XBOX content and subscriptions, LinkedIn's four products), the fiscal 2026 renaming of Gaming to XBOX and of Search and news advertising to Search advertising, and each line's competition — FY2026 · publ. July 29, 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 22, 2026