Microsoft beats sales estimates as Azure growth ticks upward

The pandemic has accelerated a shift already under way toward cloud-based computing, helping companies such as Microsoft, Amazon.com Inc'scloud unit and Alphabet Inc'sGoogle Cloud.Revenue growth for Azure, the company's flagship cloud computing business, was 48%, up from 47% in the previous quarter and ahead of Wall Street estimates of 43.45%, according to consensus data from Visible Alpha.Microsoft has shifted to selling many of its products via recurring subscriptions, which investors like bec