Big week for tech earnings: Microsoft results will be ‘major bellwether’ for cloud spend

It's a big week for tech earnings, and the results from some of the sector’s biggest players could point to the potential for AI to transform the economics of the industry. 

• Microsoft will get things started on Tuesday afternoon with earnings that will serve as "a major bellwether for cloud spend and especially the appetite for generative AI spend among CIOs," writes Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives in a note to clients.

• Google parent Alphabet will also report earnings Tuesday afternoon, setting up a direct comparison between two of the biggest players in this new era. Companies including Amazon and Intel report their financial results later in the week. Read more.

Convoy CEO Dan Lewis said his company got to the “1/2 yard line” on two potential M&A deals before the trucking marketplace startup abruptly shut down. Lewis revealed that insight over the weekend in his first public statements since news broke last week of the company’s collapse. Read more. 

• Related: On the newest episode of the GeekWire Podcast, we compare Convoy’s implosion to past flameouts of high-profile startups, and explain the trends that served as the backdrop for Convoy’s demise. Listen here. 

Hot Links:

• Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella discusses his career journey, the potential of AI, the Activision Blizzard acquisition and more in a new interview. (Insider)

• Ex-Amazon manager Kristi Coulter wrote a new book about what it’s like to be a woman in middle management at the tech giant. “Exit Interview: The Life and Death of My Ambitious Career” is the “story of someone who outgrows Amazon and rescues herself from it,” Coulter said. (The Seattle Times)

• Amazon is enabling passkey support for its website and shopping app that allows users to access their account with biometrics rather than a password. (The Verge)