Microsoft recently announced that it will phase out discount offers on its Microsoft 365 subscriptions and other software applications, primarily affecting enterprise clients.
Following this development, analysts have produced various estimates detailing how much additional funding enterprise customers may need to allocate for these services. UBS analysts, in particular, have noted that they have already incorporated this pricing adjustment into their forecasts for the tech giant.
The analysts said it was reasonable to assume the tech firm’s projections reflect the impact of the price changes. They also maintained a buy rating on the stock.
Microsoft demonstrates a strong desire to increase its revenue in the coming years
Microsoft announced the price adjustment information two weeks after the tech company released its Q4 earnings report . This announcement predicted that the firm’s total revenue in the next financial year will increase by double digits compared to the previous year. Microsoft’s stock price encountered a 4% increase immediately after highlighting the earnings report.
Concerning the price adjustment, the tech company shared a blog post stating that this update is an act of development on its consistent pricing model for services such as Azure. It also demonstrated their continued dedication to applying transparency and alignment in their operations across all sales channels.
This change will take effect starting November 1 when companies initiate new services in their operations or renew ongoing contracts. Notably, such a change impacts organizations with a staff qualified for the levels of prices labeled A, B, C, and D.
Jay Cuthrell, the product chief at NexusTek, a Microsoft partner, shared his views on the topic of discussion. According to Cuthrell, there is a possibility that the price will increase in a range of about 6% to 12%. Additionally, UBS analysts noted that partners estimate the impact could be as low as 3% and as high as 14%.
In the meantime, the tech firm noticed that its Microsoft 365 commercial licenses, which are responsible for monitoring the number of licenses its customers secure for their employees, were still below 10% from 2023 to date. This brought about the urgency to enhance revenue per seat. Therefore, the tech giant is working on a strategy to sell Copilot add-ons and to convince several clients to shift to the premium plans.
Driving revenue growth remains Microsoft’s top priority. The firm’s Productivity and Business Processes unit alone contributed $128.5 billion in operating profit for the financial year 2025. Microsoft 365 commercial products and cloud services generate about 73% of this revenue.
Earlier, as reported by Cryptopolitan , Meta and Microsoft recently shattered Wall Street records, adding a combined $550 billion in market value in less than 24 hours. To put that into perspective, the gain exceeds Costco’s entire market value by roughly $140 billion, surpassing Netflix by $50 billion. The surge followed the release of earnings reports from both companies that significantly beat expectations.
Clients prioritize Microsoft apps despite rising costs
While researching, Adam Mansfield, commercial advisory practice leader at UpperEdge, found that many Microsoft clients were willing to pay higher prices to retain access to the tech firm’s applications rather than switch to competing services.
He also observed that these clients could reduce spending in other areas of Microsoft’s ecosystem, such as Azure cloud infrastructure, without impacting their access to key applications.
Meanwhile, Nathan Taylor, senior vice president at Sourcepass, noted that companies could purchase through cloud reselling partners instead of buying directly from Microsoft to manage costs amid the decline of discount offerings.
Regarding the tech firm’s recent price adjustment, Taylor emphasized that Sourcepass has received limited details. He added that it often takes time for such information to circulate fully across the industry.
Want your project in front of crypto’s top minds? Feature it in our next industry report, where data meets impact.
