Microsoft services fully restored after global outage

Microsoft said Saturday that services across Teams, Outlook, and other products have fully recovered, ending a global outage that disrupted communications for businesses and governments for over 24 hours. The company confirmed it addressed the underlying server issue and ruled out malicious activity. The outage, which began Thursday, affected Exchange Online features, preventing users from sending emails, managing calendars, and hosting virtual meetings. It impacted government agencies from Australia to the United States, caused trading delays, and hindered earnings publications, with Downdetector logging over 7.4 million reports worldwide. This marks one of Microsoft's longest outages and its second disruption this year, following incidents in January and October. Analysts estimate insured losses between $300 million and $500 million, while raising concerns about global reliance on a single provider, though switching costs may deter customers from moving to rivals.