Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. The company became influential in the rise of personal computers through software like Windows and has since expanded into areas such as Internet services, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, video gaming, and more. A Big Tech company, Microsoft is the largest software company by revenue, one of the most valuable public companies, and one of the most valuable brands globally.
Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen to market BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800, Microsoft rose to dominate the PC operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by Windows. From 1980 to 2021 Microsoft released 9 versions of MS-DOS and 13 versions of Windows. The company's 1986 initial public offering (IPO) and subsequent rise in its share price created three billionaires and an estimated 12,000 millionaires among Microsoft employees. Since the 1990s, it has increasingly diversified its business. Steve Ballmer replaced Gates as CEO in 2000. He oversaw the then-largest of Microsoft's corporate acquisitions in Skype Technologies in 2011, an increased focus on hardware that led to its first in-house PC line—the Surface—in 2012, and the formation of Microsoft Mobile through Nokia. Since Satya Nadella became CEO in 2014, the company has changed focus towards cloud computing and acquired LinkedIn in 2016. Under his direction, the company has expanded its video gaming business to support the Xbox brand, establishing the Microsoft Gaming division in 2022 and acquiring Activision Blizzard in 2023.
Microsoft has been dominant in the IBM PC–compatible operating system and office software suite markets since the 1990s. Its best-known software products are the Windows line of operating systems and the Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 suite of productivity applications, which most notably include the Word word processor, Excel spreadsheet editor, and PowerPoint presentation program. Its flagship hardware products are the Surface lineup of PCs and the Xbox brand of video game consoles, the latter including the Xbox network. The company also provides a range of consumer Internet services such as Bing web search, the MSN web portal, the Outlook.com (Hotmail) email service, and the Microsoft Store. In the enterprise and development fields, Microsoft most notably provides the Azure cloud computing platform, Microsoft SQL Server database software, and Visual Studio.
Microsoft became the third publicly traded U.S. company to be valued at over $1 trillion in April 2019. It has been criticized for monopolistic practices, and the company's software received criticism for problems with ease of use, robustness, and security. Microsoft has also been criticized for its role in providing services to Israel during the Gaza war.
History
1972–1985: Founding
Childhood friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen sought to make a business using their skills in computer programming.[3] In 1972, they founded Traf-O-Data, which sold a rudimentary computer to track and analyze automobile traffic data.[4]
The January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics featured Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems's (MITS) Altair 8800 microcomputer,[5] which inspired Allen to suggest that they could program a BASIC interpreter for the device. Gates called MITS and claimed that he had a working interpreter, and MITS requested a demonstration. Allen worked on a simulator for the Altair while Gates developed the interpreter, and it worked flawlessly when they demonstrated it to MITS in March 1975 in
Corporate affairs
Microsoft is ranked No. 14 in the 2022 Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue;[161] and it was the world's largest software maker by revenue in 2022 according to Forbes Global 2000. In 2018, Microsoft became the most valuable publicly traded company in the world,[162] a position it has repeatedly traded with Apple in the years since.[163] In April 2019, Microsoft became the third U.S. public company to be valued at over $1 trillion. As of 2024, Microsoft has the third-highest
Corporate identity
Corporate culture
"[T]he Microsoft method. Understand the market, and the customers, and then go pedal to the metal, with release after release focused on what the customers need, incorporating their feedback. That puts the competition into reaction mode. And of course it helps if they also make a strategic error because they are under so much pressure."
- Chris Pratley of Microsoft, 2004[227]
Technical references for developers and articles for various Microsoft magazines such as Microsoft Systems Journal (MSJ) are available through the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN). MSDN also offers subscriptions for companies and individuals, and the more expensive subscriptions usually offer access to pre-release beta versions of Microsoft software.[228][229] In April 2004, Microsoft launched a community site for developers and users, titled Channel 9, that provides a wiki and an Internet forum.
See also
- List of mergers and acquisitions by Microsoft
- Microsoft engineering groups
- Microsoft Enterprise Agreement
External links
References
- Microsoft Corporation Form 10-K U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, July 30, 2025^
- Roy A. Allan. A History of the Personal Computer Allan Publishing, 2001, retrieved July 17, 2010^
- Bill Gates Biography.com, retrieved November 8, 2016