A massive global outage affecting Microsoft Outlook, Teams and its Copilot AI assistant began easing on Friday after crippling workplace communications for more than 24 hours. However the tech giant stated it still has no clear timeline for a full recovery.
Microsoft confirmed that server issues within Exchange Online its cloud-based email and scheduling hub caused the breakdown. The company ruled out artificial intelligence interference and said there is no evidence of a cyberattack.
The disruption started around 1725 GMT on Thursday, triggering over 7.4 million user reports worldwide on outage tracker Downdetector. Organizations using self-hosted servers were largely spared while cloud-reliant users faced severe operational halts.
The fallout hit major public and private sectors from Asia to North America. In the United Kingdom, London’s Metropolitan Police faced online crime-reporting lags while National Health Service (NHS) clinics resorted to paper records. Australian intelligence and federal police agencies were also affected.
Corporate operations suffered similar setbacks. Indian airlines Air India, IndiGo and Akasa Air reported email support delays while shipping giant Maersk warned of communication lags. In Taiwan the financial firms canceled a bond transaction and used fax machines to confirm trades. Meanwhile the US truck maker Workhorse Group postponed its earnings release and AI firms OpenAI and Anthropic reported connector issues.
Analysts at Morningstar DBRS estimate global insured losses between $300 million and $500 million. Microsoft shares closed flat at $523.88 on Friday.
This marks one of the longest outages in Microsoft’s history and follows recent disruptions to its 365 and Azure platforms also renewing concerns over the world's heavy reliance on a few major cloud providers.
