(Sharecast News) - Microsoft beat Wall Street estimates for its third-quarter revenue last night, driven by gains from artificial intelligence adoption across its cloud services and business software products. The company said its revenues had risen to $61.9 billion, up by 17 per cent and exceeding the $60.8 billion, or 15 per cent rise, that had been forecast. Its net income was $21.9 billion, up by 20% from the year before. - The Times

Tory commuter towns have suffered the biggest hit from soaring mortgage costs, new figures reveal. Homeowners in Conservative strongholds outside of London experienced the sharpest rise in housing costs last year, as 1.4 million fixed-term mortgages were up for renewal. Analysis from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that families in towns in districts such as Uttlesford, Tonbridge and Malling, and Tandridge were at the sharp end of rate rises. - Telegraph

Boeing burned through nearly $4bn in the last quarter as it scrambled to contain a safety crisis unleashed by a mid-flight blowout of a cabin panel on a brand-new 737 Max 9 jet. The US planemaker has been left reeling by the incident in January, which raised questions about its bestselling commercial plane, and warnings from a whistleblower about other sections of its production line. - Guardian

Google owner Alphabet announced its first-ever dividend of 20 cents a share on Thursday, despite spending billions of dollars on data centres to catch up with rivals on generative artificial intelligence. Alphabet, which has faced tough competition for advertising budgets from other online platforms such as Facebook, ­Instagram, TikTok and Amazon, reported a 15 per cent rise in quarterly revenue to $80.5 billion in the three months to the end of March compared with $69.8 billion a year ago. It also said it would buy back an extra $70 billion of Alphabet shares. - The Times

Former president Donald Trump qualified for a bonus worth $1.2bn after shares in his social media company remained above a certain value despite falling sharply. Trump is poised to receive 36m additional shares in Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), owner of his Truth Social platform, under an "earn-out" windfall which boosts the paper value of his stake in the business to about $3.7bn. - Guardian