Microsoft, a company that already has a market cap of over 2.4 trillion, is getting even richer. According to an internal document seen by Business Insider (alternate link), the Windows and Xbox maker has won itself a major new customer in the form of Amazon, who, according to the note, has already committed more than $1 billion to Microsoft over the next five years as part of a comprehensive switch to Microsoft 365—a set of cloud productivity tools from the company that includes all of the popular Office apps and more. Amazon is said to have already purchased more than 1 million license seats for the software, and employees are expected to switch over from local Office products in early 2024.
Those spots are expected to be used by both Amazon corporate employees and workers in frontline roles, the person said.
Amazon uses a local, on-premise version of Microsoft’s Office products but plans to move to Microsoft’s 365 suite of cloud based productivity tools, the person explained.
Amazon is expected to start setting the new systems up in early November. That’s around the time when Microsoft releases a new version of its 365 suite of applications with new AI capabilities. The full move for Amazon employees is expected to happen in early 2024, the person said.