Microsoft restores services after outage disrupts governments, work, schools

Outlook, Teams and other Microsoft services began recovering yesterday after a widespread outage disrupted business operations worldwide on Thursday.

The service interruption hit more than 70 countries and lasted from Thursday afternoon into Friday, according to Downdetector.

The disruption hit governments, schools, businesses, including the US House of Representatives, UK Parliament members, shipping giant Maersk, stock exchange operator Euronext, and remote online classes in Australia’s Northern Territory.

Its economic toll could reach at least $7 billion in lost productivity among tens of millions of Microsoft users, a Michigan-based think tank estimates.

AI firms OpenAI and Anthropic’s ChatGPT and Claude bots in the Microsoft 365 connector and Outlook were also affected.

Microsoft clarified that the issue was not due to a cyberattack but was caused by a routine network capacity upgrade. The company pointed to an “elevated load” and said it would share additional information once its review was complete.

The incident underscores the vulnerability of businesses relying on tech giants. Past mass outages affecting everyday work include the November 2025 Cloudflare and Amazon Web Services disruptions.

Microsoft 365 remains a critical revenue driver for the company, bringing in nearly $28 billion in the three months ended September, equivalent to 30% of total revenue.