Cloud Providers Market Share ☁️, AWS to Invest $35bn in Virginia 💰, Qualtrics and ServiceNow Q4 earnings 🚀

The Biggest Cloud Providers in the World By Market Share - Amazon Web Services Leads (8 minutes read)

Amazon Web Services (AWS) leads the world in cloud infrastructure service market share with 34%. Microsoft Azure is in second place with 21%, followed by Google Cloud at 11%, Alibaba Cloud at 5%, and other providers at 29%. AWS generated $20.5 billion in sales and an operating income of $5.4 billion for Q3 2022, proving that Amazon’s cloud business is the leader in size and scale. Microsoft Azure has been a growth engine for Microsoft, with increasing revenues every quarter over the past year. Google Cloud reported losses widening to $699 million in Q3 2022 due to growth investments, while Alibaba Cloud had a full-year profit of $164 million as it achieved more scale. With huge expected industry growth in the years to come, all five providers are poised to benefit from this market shift and remain dominant in cloud computing services.

AWS to Invest $35 Billion in Virginia, Create 1,000 Jobs - Largest Economic Development Capital Investment in State History (5 minutes read)

Amazon, through AWS, is set to invest a record-breaking $35 billion in the Commonwealth of Virginia, creating at least 1,000 total new jobs across the state. This investment is the largest economic development capital in Virginia's history and will reportedly involve numerous localities. The company has also been approved for up to a 15-year extension of data center sales. It uses tax exemptions on qualifying equipment and an MEI custom performance grant of up to $140 million for site and infrastructure improvements, workforce development, and other project-related costs.

Qualtrics Posts Q4 Beat, Guides Revenue Above Consensus, But Lower-Than-Expected FY2023 Earnings (8 minutes read)

Qualtrics reported fourth-quarter revenue of $389.09 million, beating analysts estimate of $381.12 million and subscription revenue rose 26% year over year to $327.6 million. The company also provided guidance for the first quarter of fiscal 2023 with earnings per share between $0.01-$0.02 and revenue between $392-$394 million — both above consensus estimates. However, its full-year 2023 earnings per share were guided lower than expectations at between $0.20-$0.24, while revenue was guided below consensus estimates at between 1.661-1.669 billion. Despite the lower-than-expected earnings guidance, shares of Qualtrics rose following the announcement.

From the earnings call

In the Q4 earnings call, the management of Qualtrics discussed their current trends in terms of customer demand and pipeline activity. They noted that demand for their platform remains strong, and they have entered the year with a significantly more robust pipeline than last year.

Additionally, customers are taking more time to go through additional approvals for expanding programs which are elongating the deal cycle. On top of this, there has been an increase in budget centers consolidating point solutions into one comprehensive system, opening up opportunities for more profound levels of budgeting.

All-in-all, the two executives declared that despite an elongated deal cycle due to extra scrutiny by customers, overall customer demand remains positive and expanding.

ServiceNow Reports Strong Q4 Earnings, Appoints New COO and Expands Global Reach (8 minutes read)

ServiceNow reported a solid fourth quarter earnings beat of $2.28 per share, excluding non-recurring items, compared to the S&P Capital IQ Consensus of $2.02. Revenues for the quarter rose 20.2% year-over-year to $1.94 billion, in line with the S&P Capital IQ Consensus. The company also appointed Chirantan CJ Desai as President and COO of ServiceNow, and welcomed Masatoshi Suzuki as president of its Japan division to expand its global reach. Additionally, it announced a multi-year transformation of its Partner Program to support an estimated $500 billion market opportunity for the Now Platform and associated partner services. For Q1 subscription revenues, ServiceNow guided for $1.99-$2.00 billion, while for FY23 subscription revenues, it guided for $8.44-$8.50 billion respectively.

From the earnings call

In the earnings call, the management shared that their portfolio is best suited to meet customers wherever they are on a cloud journey and help them optimize. Additionally, three Fortune 100 companies have chosen to use their observability solution, Lightstep at a meaningful scale.

ServiceNow has also acquired Era, which provides log management solutions and will fully integrate into its observability platform in 2023. Other verticals, such as the public sector, retail, and healthcare, had strong growth, with 50% reported in the public sector alone. Furthermore, potential growth potential in Japan and India was also mentioned due to the appointment of a new partner.

Dell Technologies Acquires Cloudify to Enhance Multi-Cloud Solutions Portfolio (6 minutes read)

Dell Technologies has acquired Cloudify, a developer of cloud automation and orchestration capabilities for DevOps and ITSM environments, for an estimated $100 million. The acquisition provides Dell with leading technology packages to automate provisioning and update workflows in hybrid cloud and cloud-native environments, as well as integrate public clouds more closely with their own offerings. This move is part of Dell's ongoing strategy to expand its multi-cloud portfolio across the industry. It follows their acquisitions of Enstratius in 2013 and the launch of Apex in 2022.