- Microsoft shares dropped 2.1% in pre-market after a global service outage
- The outage affected key services including Outlook, Teams, and Copilot AI
- Disruption lasted over 12 hours and impacted users worldwide
Microsoft shares came under pressure in pre-market trade on Friday, after a prolonged global outage disrupted some of its most widely used services, including Outlook, Teams and its artificial intelligence (AI) assistant Copilot.
The stock fell 2.1% in pre-market trading, making Microsoft the only loser among the Magnificent Seven group of US mega-cap technology companies. The group also includes Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Meta, Nvidia and Tesla.
The outage, which stretched beyond 12 hours, affected businesses, government agencies and individual users across several countries, raising fresh questions about the reliability of Microsoft's enterprise software ecosystem.
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Microsoft shares were trading at $523 apiece at the close of the November 13 session, while the stock declined 0.84% to $518.62 in pre-market trading as of 9:17 a.m. ET.
Microsoft initially acknowledged problems with users accessing Exchange Online mailboxes through multiple connection methods. Its engineers later identified elevated server loads and infrastructure-related issues as possible causes of the disruption.
In an update on Friday, the company said several servers had unexpectedly become unavailable after failing automated health checks. This placed additional pressure on the remaining infrastructure, resulting in connectivity errors across Microsoft 365 services.
Microsoft's attempts to restore normal operations proved more complicated than expected. The company said its initial recovery measures were not delivering the expected improvement, prompting engineers to explore alternative ways to increase server capacity and address traffic-management imbalances.
The company later reported signs of stabilisation following broader corrective measures, while reiterating that a complete and sustained recovery remained its priority. Microsoft also said it had found no evidence of malicious activity or a cyberattack behind the disruption.
The disruption extended beyond individual users, affecting organisations that depend on Microsoft's software for everyday communication and business operations.
Government agencies in Australia, Japan and the US reported service disruptions. In India, airlines, including IndiGo, Akasa Air and Air India, said their email support services had been affected.
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Financial firms in Taiwan also reported difficulties with fund management and trade-related communications. According to reports, one firm cancelled a bond repurchase transaction, while another resorted to fax to confirm trades.
The latest incident adds to Microsoft's service reliability concerns. The company has faced other Microsoft 365 disruptions this year, while an Azure cloud outage last month also affected businesses and its software offerings.
For investors, repeated interruptions could raise questions about the resilience of Microsoft's enterprise business and the risks of organisations relying heavily on a single technology provider.
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