Oracle profit beats expectations, boosts share buyback by $10 billion

(Reuters) - Oracle Corp reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit as its cloud business gained traction, and said it was boosting its stock buyback programme by $10 billion.

The company's shares rose about 4 percent in extended trading.

Oracle has been investing aggressively in its Internet-based software business over the last few years in a bid to take market share away from rivals such as Salesforce.com Inc and Workday Inc .

"Our cloud business is now in a hyper-growth phase," Safra Catz, Oracle's co-chief executive, said in a statement.

Revenue from its cloud-computing software and platform service rose about 57 percent to $583 million, accounting for about 6 percent of its total revenue.

The company said it added 942 new customers for its cloud software service in the quarter, including several who switched from Workday Inc .

"Overall, we believe these results highlight how ORCL's cloud business is reaching an inflection point, after multiple quarters of seemingly 'kicking the can,'" BTIG analyst Joel Fishbein said in an e-mail.

Net income fell to $2.14 billion, or 50 cents per share, in the third quarter ended Feb. 29, from $2.50 billion, or 56 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding items, the company reported a profit of 64 cents per share.

Revenue fell 3.4 percent to $9.01 billion.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 62 cents per share on revenue of $9.12 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Oracle's shares were trading at $40.29 after the bell.

(Reporting by Anya George Tharakan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)