U.S. technology giant Microsoft has announced that its profits for three months to the end of September increased to more than $36.6 billion, days after the company announced it was planning to cut 60,000 jobs worldwide. 

The company also reported on Wednesday that its quarterly revenue rose 19 per cent year-on-year to $92.3 billion, driven by strong growth in its cloud computing business. It was reported that Microsoft Cloud contributed 30 per cent to the revenue.

The revenue growth announcement came just two days after Microsoft said it would offer buyout incentives to nearly a quarter of its global workforce as part of efforts to cut costs while increasing investment in artificial intelligence.

Amy Coleman, Microsoft’s executive vice-president and chief people officer, announced in a statement on Monday that the voluntary exit offer “is time-limited”.

“Today, we’re introducing a new Voluntary Exit Offer to eligible employees within participating organisations. This offer gives eligible employees who may be considering a future outside the company a new choice to make that transition now with support,” Ms Coleman said on Monday.

The Windows developer is the latest company to join other global firms, including American Express and Barclays Bank, which intend to cut thousands of jobs to bank on AI integration.