Microsoft Corporation

American multinational technology company developing, manufacturing, licensing, and supporting software, services, devices, and solutions worldwide.

Company Type

public

Founded

1975

Headquarters

Redmond, Washington, USA

Stock

NASDAQ: MSFT

About Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft operates through three primary business segments: Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing.

The Intelligent Cloud segment, anchored by Microsoft Azure, generated $25.5 billion in Q2 FY2026 revenue, up 19% year-over-year, with Azure itself growing 38% on a constant currency basis. Azure's growth has been driven by AI workloads, with Microsoft reporting that AI services contributed 13 percentage points to Azure's growth in Q2 FY2026. The cloud segment surpassed $40.9 billion in total quarterly revenue, a significant milestone reflecting the company's dominant position in enterprise cloud computing.

The Productivity and Business Processes segment, which includes Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), LinkedIn, and Dynamics 365, generated $29.4 billion in Q2 FY2026 revenue, up 14% year-over-year. Microsoft 365 Copilot, the AI-powered productivity assistant integrated into Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams, reached 15 million commercial seats in Q2 FY2026, demonstrating strong enterprise adoption of AI-powered productivity tools.

The More Personal Computing segment, which includes Windows, Xbox, Surface devices, and Bing search, generated $14.7 billion in Q2 FY2026 revenue, up 4% year-over-year. Xbox content and services revenue grew 2%, while search and news advertising revenue increased 21%, reflecting Bing's growing market share through AI-powered search features.

Microsoft returned $12.7 billion to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases in Q2 FY2026, up 32% compared to the same period in the prior year, reflecting the company's strong cash generation and commitment to shareholder returns.

History of Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft was founded on April 4, 1975, by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico, initially focused on developing programming languages for the Altair 8800 microcomputer. The company relocated to Bellevue, Washington in 1979 and then to Redmond in 1986, where it has maintained its headquarters ever since.

The company's pivotal moment came in 1980 when IBM selected Microsoft to provide the operating system for its new personal computer. Microsoft acquired QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) and adapted it into MS-DOS, which became the standard operating system for IBM-compatible PCs. This deal established Microsoft as the dominant force in PC software and set the foundation for decades of growth.

Microsoft went public on March 13, 1986, at $21 per share, making both Gates and Allen billionaires. The company launched Windows 1.0 in 1985 and continued developing the Windows operating system through the 1990s, with Windows 95 becoming a cultural phenomenon and establishing the graphical user interface as the standard for personal computing.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Microsoft expanded aggressively into productivity software with Microsoft Office, internet services with Internet Explorer and MSN, gaming with Xbox, and enterprise software. The company faced significant antitrust scrutiny from the US Department of Justice and European regulators regarding its bundling of Internet Explorer with Windows, resulting in a landmark antitrust case that shaped the technology industry's regulatory landscape.

Satya Nadella became CEO in February 2014, succeeding Steve Ballmer and initiating a transformative shift in Microsoft's strategy toward cloud computing, open-source software, and artificial intelligence. Under Nadella's leadership, Microsoft launched Azure as a major cloud platform, acquired LinkedIn in 2016 for $26.2 billion, acquired GitHub in 2018 for $7.5 billion, and made a landmark $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2023, significantly expanding its gaming portfolio.

Microsoft's strategic investment in OpenAI, beginning in 2019 and expanding significantly in 2023 with a reported $10 billion commitment, positioned the company at the forefront of the artificial intelligence revolution. The integration of OpenAI's technology into Microsoft's products through Copilot has become a central pillar of the company's growth strategy.

Brands Owned by Microsoft Corporation

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