Microsoft beat revenue expectations in its third quarter thanks to soaring demand for its cloud services as people worked from home during the pandemic, the company said in its earnings call on Tuesday.

Here are the six key takeaways from the call:

1. Microsoft's revenue hit $41.7 billion, beating expectations

Microsoft said revenue hit $41.7 billion, up 19% from the same period last year, beating predictions of $41.03 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.  

Revenue in its "Intelligent Cloud" division was $15.1 billion, up 23%. Azure, the company's cloud-computing platform, grew revenue by 50%. 

"Digital technology will be the foundation for resilience and growth over the next decade," CEO Satya Nadella said. 

2. LinkedIn is doing really well, and we're spending 80% more hours on it 

Revenue for professional networking site LinkedIn increased 25%. The number of conversations on the site rose by 43%, and content being shared rose 29%. 

Overall, the hours people spent on LinkedIn was up by 80%. 

It now has 756 million members. 

Microsoft said it expected continued revenue growth as the advertising and employment markets recover from the pandemic. 

3. Teams now has more than 145 million daily active users, nearly double the amount last year 

The workplace chat platform Teams has almost doubled its daily active user numbers to more than 145 million since last year. 

Nadella said that, even in countries where workers are returning to the office, such as Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea, Teams was still growing. 

4. Xbox Series X and S consoles are in high demand, and Minecraft is still adding users

There was "record engagement" in its gaming segment, with revenue up 50%, CFO Amy Hood said.

Xbox hardware revenue climbed 232% thanks to the release of new consoles. Demand for the Series X and S consoles "significantly exceeded" supply, Hood said.  

Xbox content and services revenue was up 34%, fueled by Minecraft's popularity. The sandbox video game has more than 140 million monthly active users, up 30% since last year. Players have spent more than $350 million on add-ons since 2017. 

5. Dividends and share buybacks increased from last year 

Microsoft returned $10 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases, up 1% compared to the same time last year.  

6. The US military is using Microsoft's AI services 

Azure's artificial intelligence platforms are being used by big public and private organizations, including AT&T, Duolingo, and the US Army. 

"We've seen dramatic advances in research and development by OpenAI whose models are trained and hosted exclusively on Azure, " Nadella said.

The US Army will use HoloLens mixed-reality headsets, integrating with Microsoft's cloud services. The headsets will give troops "next-generation night vision," the US Army said in a press announcement last month. 

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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Friday addressed controversies surrounding the behavior of the company's billionaire cofounder Bill Gates for the first time.

Nadella said Microsoft now prioritized diversity and inclusion and investigated issues raised by any employee regarding problems at work.

"The Microsoft of 2021 is very different from the Microsoft of 2000 to me and to everyone at Microsoft," Nadella told CNBC's Jon Fortt on Friday. "I feel that we have created an environment that allows us to really drive the everyday improvement in our diversity and inclusion culture, which I think is a super important thing and that's what I'm focused on." 

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Microsoft board members opened an investigation into Gates two years ago after an employee said she had a sexual relationship with the married billionaire in 2000 that spanned years, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. Gates stepped down from the boards of Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway last year to focus on philanthropy. 

Several unnamed Microsoft employees told The New York Times Gates' behavior made them feel uncomfortable at work. The reports came in the wake Gates and Melinda French Gates' announcement that they were getting a divorce.

A spokesperson for Gates said in a statement to Insider that allegations the billionaire mistreated employees were false and that Gates had an affair 20 years ago that ended amicably. The spokesperson did not say whether the affair was with a Microsoft employee.

Nadella said Microsoft has had a policy in place since 2006 to disclose relationships at work.

"Overall, the power dynamic in the workplace is not something that needs to be abused in any form," Nadella said on CNBC. "The most important thing is for us to make sure that everybody's comfortable in being able to raise any issues they see and for us to be able to fully investigate it."

Microsoft used to be known for having a high-pressure work environment and employing hostile executives. Since Nadella took the helm, he has worked to reform the culture at Microsoft by training senior managers in nonviolent communication and allowing employees to learn from mistakes instead of punishing them.

Microsoft was not immediately available for additional comment.

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In October 2014, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella took the stage at the Grace Hopper Celebration, a prominent conference for women in tech, for an onstage conversation with Maria Klawe, the president of Harvey Mudd College and a Microsoft board member.

It was there that Nadella made his biggest gaffe to date. He told the 8,000 conference attendees that women should rely on "faith" in the system and "good karma" to get pay raises, rather than asking bosses for what they deserve. Klawe, the moderator, pushed back, saying women should do their research and negotiate for raises — to cheers from the audience.

After backlash, Nadella apologized and said Klawe was right. He used the incident as the impetus for a series of diversity initiatives at Microsoft.

But behind the scenes, Klawe told Insider, the company's board was unhappy with how Nadella's comments made Microsoft look. Klawe said Microsoft Chairman John Thompson blamed her for putting Nadella in that situation and asked her to step down from the board. In October 2015, Microsoft announced Klawe decided not to seek reelection after six years on the board.

"I felt like I was being silenced," Klawe said. "I was just disappointed Satya Nadella would let that happen." She also said Nadella was given the questions for the interview a month in advance and should not have been surprised by the conversation.

"We appreciate the contributions that Maria Klawe made as a board member," a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement to Insider. "Microsoft is committed to maintaining a board with diverse backgrounds and experiences that matches the evolution of the company.

"We continue to push ourselves to build more diverse and inclusive teams at all levels and our Senior Leadership Team meets regularly to understand what's working and where our efforts need refinement."

The spokesperson added: "Specific to our board composition, more than 63% of board members represent gender, ethnic, geographic, or cultural diversity and 45% of board members are women, making Microsoft's board of directors one of the most diverse of any company in technology today."

Klawe believes the gaffe led to positive change at Microsoft 

Klawe said she believed Nadella's gaffe at the conference led to positive changes for women at Microsoft and the tech industry at large.

Nadella wrote about the event in his book "Hit Refresh," saying he was glad he "messed up in such a public forum because it helped me confront an unconscious bias that I didn't know I had, and it helped me find a new sense of empathy for the great women in my life and at my company."

Klawe said she believed Nadella's response proved his leadership acumen in that he is willing to learn from the experience and make positive changes. At the same time that Microsoft announced Klawe's departure, the company also named the prominent women executives Sandi Peterson and Padmasree Warrior to its board.

"Satya acknowledged he made a mistake and said, 'If I could blow a question like that, I bet I'm not the only one,' and started a training at Microsoft that marked a really dramatic turnaround," she said.

Klawe says she believes Bill Gates didn't care about diversity at Microsoft

Klawe said she believed Nadella's efforts to improve diversity and inclusion at Microsoft would never have happened if Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates were still in charge. She said Gates, who was on Microsoft's board until 2020, was not receptive to suggestions from women board members about improving diversity in succession planning.

"I would just say that is not something [Gates] was interested in hearing about, and [he] made it very clear by saying things like: 'Are you trying to effing destroy the company?' The message was: Caring about diversity has nothing to do with the success of Microsoft," she said.

Klawe's comments come as Gates' personal life comes under scrutiny amid his high-profile divorce from his wife, Melinda French Gates. Gates is said to have stepped down from the board of the company he helped found amid an investigation into a relationship with a Microsoft employee, and his ties to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein have come under the microscope as well.

"It is a gross mischaracterization to suggest that Mr. Gates lacked interest in speaking about or promoting diversity and inclusion at Microsoft," a spokesperson for Gates said in an email to Insider.

"Microsoft has a long track record of working to not only fight discrimination in the workplace, but to expand access to technology and technology education in underserved communities," they added. "This is work that Mr. Gates has supported both publicly and privately for years.

"His understanding of the disparities that exist in the US and around the world have also formed the basis for his more than two decades of work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, whose mission is to help create a world where every person has the opportunity to live a healthy, productive life."

In 2018, Microsoft hired a chief diversity officer. It has also published reports on its workplace demographics since 2014, which were expanded in 2019 into an annual diversity and inclusion report detailing the company's steps to make a more equitable workplace.

Microsoft said two of its four board committees are chaired by women, diversity and inclusion are topics at virtually every board and senior leadership team meeting, and it has included progress and diversity and inclusion representation since 2016 as a component in annual incentives for the company's senior leadership team.

"If I had to do it all over again, I would still join the board and I would still correct him when he answered the question wrong," Klawe said, referring to Nadella.

"I think it had a hugely positive impact on companies in general and Microsoft itself," she added. "Even knowing what was going to happen as a result, it was the right thing to do."

Do you work at Microsoft or have insight to share? Contact reporter Ashley Stewart via encrypted messaging app Signal (+1-425-344-8242) or email (astewart@businessinsider.com).

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Tech executives, media moguls, and other titans of industry are set to descend on Sun Valley, Idaho, once again this year.

After being canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the annual Allen & Co. conference is back on for 2021. Guests will gather at Sun Valley Resort following the Fourth of July holiday for an invitation-only, week-long event that includes panel discussions and power lunches, plus outdoor events like biking, horseback riding, and whitewater rafting.

Allen & Co., the investment bank that holds the annual conference, has not officially confirmed that the conference will return, but Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and local newspaper the Idaho Mountain Express have all reported that the conference is back on. 

According to Variety, this year's guest list includes the usual lineup of powerful executives and dealmakers. Tech tycoons like Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Apple's Tim Cook, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, Microsoft's Satya Nadella, and Netflix's Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos have all been invited, while media magnates including Discovery CEO David Zaslav, Disney CEO Bob Chapek, and ViacomCBS's Shari Redstone are also on the guest list.

Other notable names like Warren Buffett, NBA commissioner Adam Silver, and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell have been invited as well. 

Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey, investor Peter Thiel, AT&T CEO John Stankey, and Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch will not be in attendance this year, Variety reports. Former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley will also not be attending. 

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The Sun Valley conference, while exclusive, is known for its remote setting and casually attired CEOs, which has earned it the moniker "summer camp for billionaires." Photos of Wall Street kingpins and Silicon Valley elites wearing the conference's ubiquitous nametag and fleece vest often go viral, most notably in 2017 when Bezos showed off a new, buff physique and stylish attire.

Because of the relative net worth of the attendees, the local airport is often slammed in the days leading up to the event. Private jet charters to Sun Valley are through the roof and locals have described seeing jets double-parked at the airport.

The conference is so famous among tech and media moguls that it's been depicted in pop culture, most recently — and seemingly most accurately — in HBO's "Succession."

But the conference is known for more than just hobnobbing and fleece vests — it's also become a hotbed of networking and dealmaking. AOL's $4.4 billion sale to Verizon was hatched at Sun Valley, as was Comcast's 2011 deal with NBC Universal.

And when Bezos decided to acquire the Washington Post, those early conversations took place — where else — at Sun Valley. 

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Employees at Microsoft data centers sometimes slept on site during the pandemic, according to an executive at the tech giant.

For some Microsoft employees in technical roles, remote working proved impossible. These included some staff at sites housing servers for Microsoft's online services, including Microsoft Teams, CNBC reported.

"I heard amazing stories about people actually sleeping in data centers," Kristen Roby Dimlow, corporate vice president for total rewards, performance, and human resources business insights at Microsoft, said Wednesday during a conversation with Morgan Stanley analysts, per CNBC.

"In certain countries there was huge lockdown, and so we would have our own employees choose to sleep in the data center because they were worried they'd get stuck at a roadblock, trying to go home," she said.

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When asked for comment by CNBC, Microsoft would not say where or how many staff slept in data centers. Microsoft did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

During the pandemic, the company let data-center employees work from home where possible if they didn't want to come on site, Noelle Walsh, corporate vice president for Microsoft's Cloud Operations and Innovation group, told CNBC in April.

She said that the company provided transport to and from the sites, and let people stay in hotels if they didn't want to take public transport. In some cases, the company turned to shift work to ensure the centers were properly staffed, she said.

Microsoft is introducing flexible working, allowing most of its 160,000 employees to choose their return-to-office schedules. Under the policy, most staff can spend less than half their week working remotely without manager approval.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said last year that he believed most employees would still want a desk in physical offices, rather than working from home permanently, but the company said that people who returned to the office in spring 2021 were spending much less time there than pre-pandemic.

In May, the company released a video showing what it thinks the future of hybrid working looks like. This included eye-level cameras installed in meeting-room tables so that in-person attendees can make eye contact with their virtual teammates.

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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has dropped off Glassdoor's list of the top 100 CEOs for the first time since 2013.  

The job search site released its annual CEO ranking on Wednesday, based on employee approval ratings. A Glassdoor survey of Facebook workers between May 2020 and May 2021 showed a drop in Zuckerberg's approval from 94% in 2019 to 88% in 2021. 

Bloomberg reported that Glassdoor surveyed 700 Facebook workers. This is a small fraction of Facebook's 60,000 employees — but Glassdoor is considered an important recruitment tool, and CEO approval is displayed prominently on company pages.

In 2013, when Glassdoor started the list, Zuckerberg ranked first with a 99% approval score. Employee approvals of him declined most in the final months of 2020 and in early 2021, when Facebook was grappling with the fallout from the US presidential election and misinformation about COVID-19, Bloomberg reported. 

Zuckerberg's approval rating was still far above the average CEO approval rating of 73%, a number that Glassdoor included in a press release announcing the 2021 list. 

The top-rated CEO for 2021 was Rich Lesser of Boston Consulting Group, with a 99% approval rating. Microsoft's Satya Nadella ranked at number six with an approval score of 97%, and Apple's Tim Cook came in at number 32, with a 95% rating. 

Glassdoor gives employees three simple options when rating their CEOs — approve, disapprove, or "no opinion"— according to its awards criteria. 

Glassdoor did not publish its top CEOs list last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company said in a blogpost.

Facebook did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. 

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Microsoft's board elected Satya Nadella, the company's current CEO, to be its new chair on Wednesday.

This is the first time in more than 20 years that the roles of CEO and chair have been held by the same person.

The last person to hold both simultaneously was Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, before he stepped down as CEO in 2000.

Gates stepped down as chair in 2014, and left Microsoft's board entirely in 2020 to focus on his "philanthropic priorities."

Read more: A former Microsoft board member says she took the blame and was asked to resign after CEO Satya Nadella said women should rely on 'karma' to get a raise

Nadella took over as Microsoft CEO in February 2014, having previously led its cloud division.

He sought to distance his leadership style from Gates' in May this year, after the Wall Street Journal reported that the board opened a 2019 investigation into a relationship between Gates and a former staffer, and several former Microsoft employees told the New York Times that Gates had made them feel uncomfortable at work.

"The Microsoft of 2021 is very different from the Microsoft of 2000 to me and to everyone at Microsoft," Nadella told CNBC following the two reports.

"I feel that we have created an environment that allows us to really drive the everyday improvement in our diversity and inclusion culture, which I think is a super important thing and that's what I'm focused on," he added.

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People look to leaders for answers — especially during hard times.  

For over a year, executives were steering their companies through a worldwide economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Many workplaces have reopened, after closing for safety reasons, or are planning to reopen soon. 

The new challenge for industry leaders will be navigating the complicated world of hybrid work. C-suite executives are eager to return to their office spaces full-time, but employees would prefer to stay online — the compromise, hybrid work, will take time to coordinate. 

Insider has compiled a list of 15 books, which offer practical insights on how to better understand yourself, your employees, and where the business world is going. 

This article is an updated version of a story that was originally published in January 2016. May Teng and Weng Cheong contributed to earlier versions of this post.

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"The Hero with a Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell

Joseph Campbell's 70-year-old mythology book helped Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio process and reframe with his business and personal failures, he told Business Insider. 

"The Hero with a Thousand Faces" shows how many mythologies, folk tales, and religious narratives follow a similar story structure, including a call to adventure, a descent into the underworld, and an ultimate boon brought back to society — whether it's Harry Potter or Siddhartha Gautama. 

"Look, pain is a great teacher," Dalio told Insider. "You go forward toward your goals."

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"Mindset" by Carol Dweck

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said that "Mindset" by Carol Dweck inspired him to transform his company's culture. 

Dweck's research-steeped chapters prompted one of the most influential leaders to adopt a "learn-it-all" mind-set. She suggests that having a "growth" mind-set and constantly looking to develop new skills through hard work can lead to greater success than believing that they're "fixed" in place.

A growth mindset teaches you to be adaptable, regardless of what adversities you may be dealing with. 

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"Bias: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do" by Jennifer Eberhardt

Stanford University professor Jennifer Eberhardt has an extensive research background in the US criminal justice system, racial imagery, and social biases. She won a MacArthur "genius" grant for her research into the psychology of racial discrimination. 

"Bias" documents her take on societal problems after decades of research experience as people tend to act recklessly when they're scare. Through case studies, the author explains how misconceptions and stereotypes can lead to devastating outcomes and how acknowledging racial biases whenever you witness or experience them is the first step toward change. 

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"The Innovator's Dilemma" by Clayton Christensen

More than two decades after its publication, Clayton Christensen's "The Innovator's Dilemma" remains a must-read for business-school students or anyone interested in the structural forces that usher in new industries. 

Drawing from real-world examples, the beloved Harvard Business School professor argues innovation and doing what's out of the ordinary can transform a market or sector. He also provides cases where corporations failed solely because they did everything right — but did not innovate. 

By applying the term "disruption" as the redesign of how things are done, Christensen advises leaders not to get too comfortable with their business models. Always be on the lookout for the next big thing, as hard times can inspire great ideas. 

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"Leadership: In Turbulent Times" by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Doris Kearns Goodwin is probably America's greatest living historian, having written extensive biographies of former Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, and Franklin Roosevelt, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize.

In "Leadership: In Turbulent Times," Goodwin tells side-by-side tales of how these four influential men came to power and their greatest challenges and triumphs. It's like being led by the hand through how these massive historical figures made the history that they did. In turn, they become more human than legend — and you learn how and why they made the decisions they did.

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"People, Power, and Profits" by Joseph Stiglitz

The Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz is one of the most influential voices speaking on the global wealth gap. Having worked as the World Bank chief economist and the chairman of Bill Clinton's Council of Economic Advisers, Stiglitz offers an inside look into how big businesses play a crucial role in the economic and political divide in America. 

In his book, Stiglitz gives solutions to America's economic problems instead of just listing its flaws. He argues the government holds the solution to the US wealth gap and that the best way to fight inequality and improve our economy is by rejecting market fundamentalism, breaking up market concentration, regulating Big Tech, rethinking trade, and empowering labor.

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"Invisible Women" by Caroline Criado Perez

In this 2019 book, the social activist and journalist Caroline Criado Perez researches how data behind smartphone design, public policies, and medical research is collected by an overwhelming number of men with less consideration for women. 

"Invisible Women" focuses on the gender data gap around the world, something Perez believes influences the health and safety of women. The author argues that addressing these discrepancies can help women rise to leadership positions.

More so, implementing company policies that are catering to women can establish gender equality in the workplace.

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"Thinking, Fast and Slow" by Daniel Kahneman

This 2011 best seller is a favorite of Jack Zenger, the cofounder and CEO of the leadership consultancy Zenger Folkman.

Daniel Kahneman, a psychologist who won the Nobel Prize in economics, breaks down human thought into two systems: the fast and intuitive "System 1," and the slow and deliberate "System 2." His book brings an awareness to our self-ignorance, as we are easily influenced by our surroundings and often automatically respond to things without much filtering. This book teaches us how to be mindful of our brains. Kahneman's framework lays out a number of cognitive biases that affect our everyday behavior, from halo effects to planning fallacies.

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"Good to Great" by Jim Collins

In the Harvard Business Review, John Coleman wrote that this best seller was a required read for young leaders.

Jim Collins spent five years researching which qualities allow companies to excel, and the results prompted him to identify eight common traits, the "good to great," companies share. Young entrepreneurs can follow Collins' advice on facing brutal truths in the company and developing a niche in the market. 

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"Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't" by Simon Sinek

In "Leaders Eat Last," bestselling author Simon Sinek puts the spotlight on leadership and management sacrifices. 

Sinek, who's also career and workplace keynote speaker, travelled around the world and came across a variety of team cultures. He wondered what builds trust in a workplace, and why some leaders fail to establish that same trust with their employees. 

After an encounter with a US Marine Corps general, the author finally understood a crucial lesson in management — it's that great leaders sacrifice their own comfort for their teams.

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"The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact" by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

In this book, coauthors Chip and Dan Heath explore how some experiences have more lasting impacts, and why we feel most comfortable when things are certain. 

The two authors leveraged psychological research and explore what makes some moments more pivotal than others. In turn, they narrowed special moments into four principles  — elevation, insight, pride, and connection — and explained how we can create and turn hard times into positive, memorable experiences. 

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"Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader" by Herminia Ibarra

Herminia Ibarra, a professor at Harvard and INSEAD business schools, suggests leaders act first and then think so that they learn from experimentation and direct experience. Ibarra offers ways to adopt a new mindset that's translatable across all industries.

"Act Like a Leader, Think Like a Leader" is packed with self-assessments and advice on the biggest workplace debates. Ibarra devotes an entire chapter to the dangers of being too authentic at work and offers strategies to step outside your comfort zone. 

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"Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy" by Sheryl Sandberg

Resilience is a muscle that can be built up. In "Option B" Sheryl Sandberg reflects on the sudden death of her husband and how she recovered from the life-changing experience. 

With help from her friend and Wharton psychologist, Adam Grant, Sandberg explores how we can power through hard times and come out better on the other side. The book teaches readers how to help others in crisis and build resilient communities.  

Get it here >> 

"Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone" by Satya Nadella

In "Hit Refresh," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella tells the story of how exploring his roots as an immigrant from India led him to lead some of the most significant technological changes at the tech company. 

Being an innovative leader means seeking opportunities to self-improve, he explained in his book. Nadella urges leaders to better understand themselves in order to become successful leaders.  

Get it here >> 

"No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention," by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer

Netflix co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings co-authored "No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention" to share how company culture transformed the popular DVD-rental service and the entire streaming industry. 

In "No Rules Rules" hundreds of employee interviews corroborate Hastings finding about unconventional leadership. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg called Netflix's culture deck, which outlines the same principles, "the most important document to ever come out of Silicon Valley."

Hastings credits Netflix's ability to adapt and pioneer the entertainment landscape to their honest and creative work culture, where adequacy is a fireable offense and excellence is the expectation.  

Disclosure: Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member.

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