Microsoft’s AI Sales Struggles Trigger Stock Drop Amid Data Scandal
Microsoft shares fell 3% in their steepest single-day decline since November, as internal documents revealed scaled-back AI sales targets and a European legal complaint surfaced over alleged data scrubbing for Israeli military operations.
The Azure division quietly reduced growth expectations for Foundry, its AI development marketplace, after sales teams consistently missed targets. Initial 50% growth goals were slashed to 25% for the current fiscal year, with fewer than 20% of sales personnel hitting original benchmarks.
Meanwhile, Irish regulators are investigating claims that Microsoft facilitated the deletion of surveillance data from European servers on behalf of Israel's military. The company denies lowering sales quotas, stating critics misunderstand 'the way a sales organization works and is compensated.'
The downturn reflects broader enterprise skepticism about AI's ROI, with multiple corporations reportedly struggling to quantify cost savings from automation investments. This sentiment could temporarily dampen crypto projects tied to AI infrastructure tokens like AGI, NMR, and FET.
