Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 Outage: What Happened Before Microsoft’s Quarterly Earnings
In the fast-moving world of technology, even the biggest names aren’t immune to problems. On October 29, 2025, Microsoft — one of the world’s leading tech giants — faced a serious issue when its Azure cloud services and Microsoft 365 platform experienced a major outage that affected millions of users across the globe.
This disruption came at a very sensitive time — just hours before Microsoft was scheduled to announce its quarterly earnings. The timing led to widespread frustration, confusion, and concern about the company’s reliability, especially since many businesses and individuals depend on Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure for their daily operations.
In this article, we’ll break down what happened, why it happened, how users were affected, and what lessons both Microsoft and its customers can take from this experience.
What Is Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365?
Before diving into the details, let’s quickly understand what these two services are and why they matter.
Microsoft Azure is Microsoft’s powerful cloud computing platform. It provides businesses with tools for hosting websites, managing applications, storing data, running AI systems, and much more. In short, Azure powers much of the internet behind the scenes — from small startups to major corporations.
Microsoft 365 (formerly known as