Microsoft
On the 4th of April 1975, Bill Gates and Paul Allen established Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Their first product was a BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800 microcomputer. The January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics magazine featured this device, sparking their business idea. Gates called MITS to claim they had a working interpreter before actually building it. They demonstrated the software flawlessly in March 1975. This success led to an agreement with ASCII Magazine in Japan by August 1977. The company moved its headquarters to Bellevue, Washington, in January 1979. In November 1980, IBM awarded Microsoft a contract to provide an operating system for the IBM Personal Computer. Microsoft purchased 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products to fulfill this deal. They retained ownership of MS-DOS while IBM rebranded it as PC DOS. By 1983, the company released the Microsoft Mouse and formed a publishing division named Microsoft Press.
Microsoft released Windows 1.0 on the 20th of November 1985, as a graphical extension for MS-DOS. The company moved its headquarters to Redmond, Washington, on the 26th of February 1986. An initial public offering occurred at the NASDAQ exchange on March 13, creating three billionaires and 12,000 millionaires among employees. On the 22nd of May 1990, Microsoft launched Windows 3.0 featuring streamlined user interface graphics. The Federal Trade Commission examined Microsoft for possible collusion due to the partnership with IBM in 1990. The Department of Justice filed a competitive impact statement on the 27th of July 1994, alleging anti-competitive per processor licenses since 1988. Bill Gates issued an internal memo titled Internet Tidal Wave on the 26th of May 1995. This prompted Microsoft to expand into computer networking and the World Wide Web. Windows 95 arrived on the 24th of August 1995, with a novel start button and pre-emptive multitasking. The New York Times called this launch the splashiest introduction of a computer product in industry history. In October 1997, the Justice Department asked the court to stop bundling Internet Explorer with Windows.
Satya Nadella succeeded Steve Ballmer as CEO on the 4th of February 2014. He previously led Microsoft's Cloud and Enterprise division. Azure Services Platform launched on the 27th of October 2008, marking entry into cloud computing. On the 8th of June 2017, Microsoft acquired Hexadite, an Israeli security firm, for $100 million. The company joined the Linux Foundation as a Platinum member during its Connect() developer event in November 2016. Each Platinum membership cost US$500,000 per year. On the 4th of June 2018, Microsoft announced the acquisition of GitHub for $7.5 billion. This deal closed on the 26th of October 2018. In May 2018, Microsoft partnered with 17 American intelligence agencies to develop Azure Government. This project had ties to the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure surveillance program. On the 23rd of January 2023, Microsoft announced a multi-year investment deal with ChatGPT developer OpenAI. Satya Nadella revealed that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman would join Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team in November 2023. In March 2024, Inflection AI cofounders Mustafa Suleyman and Karen Simonyan departed to start Microsoft AI.
The European Union brought antitrust legal action against Microsoft in March 2004. A judgment resulted in a fine of €497 million ($613 million). The EU required new versions of Windows XP without Windows Media Player. Another fine of €899 million ($1.4 billion) was imposed on the 27th of February 2008, for lack of compliance with the 2004 judgment. On the 20th of July 2012, Microsoft posted its first quarterly loss ever despite record revenues. Net loss reached $492 million due to a writedown related to advertising company aQuantive acquired for $6.2 billion back in 2007. In April 2016, the company sued the U.S. government arguing secrecy orders prevented disclosure of warrants to customers. Microsoft dropped this lawsuit on the 23rd of October 2017, following a policy change by the Department of Justice. An Irish subsidiary declared £220 bn in profits but paid no corporation tax for 2020. ProPublica reported that Microsoft diverted more than $39 billion in U.S. profits to Puerto Rico using mechanisms making it appear unprofitable.
Microsoft went public on the 13th
of March 1986, with an opening stock price of $21. The closing price was $27.75 after trading. Stock peaked in 1999 at around $119 ($60.928 adjusting for splits). Any IPO shares multiplied by 288 would cost about 9 cents today. On the 14th of November 2014, Microsoft overtook ExxonMobil to become second most-valuable company behind Apple Inc. Total market value exceeded $410B with stock hitting $50.04 per share. In April 2019, Microsoft became third U.S. public company valued over $1 trillion. By January 2024, Microsoft became most valued publicly traded company globally. Revenue reached $245 billion in fiscal year 2024 with net income of $88.1 billion. Employee count stood at 228,000 in 2024. In May 2025, Microsoft announced laying off more than 6,000 employees representing three percent of workforce. July 2025 saw another round cutting approximately 9,000 jobs.
Microsoft joined the PRISM surveillance program in 2007 according to leaked NSA documents. A spokesperson stated flatly that participation was denied in June 2013 despite receiving requests affecting between 15,000
and 15,999 accounts in first six months of 2013. On the 20th of November 2018, Microsoft agreed to supply 100,000 HoloLens headsets to U.S. military. One contract tagline mentioned enabling 25 bloodless battles before first battle. Hundreds of employees protested war profiteering from a $480 million contract for virtual reality headsets in February 2019. An Irish subsidiary declared £220 bn profits but paid no tax for 2020 due to Bermuda residency. ProPublica reported diversion of over $39 billion to Puerto Rico resulting in nearly zero tax rate on those profits. In January 2024, a Russian state-sponsored group hacked into corporate systems accessing senior leadership emails. The attack might have been prevented if multi-factor authentication had been enabled. Microsoft faced criticism for using permatemp employees without medical benefits and forced retention tactics leading to burnout.
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Common questions
When and where was Microsoft established by Bill Gates and Paul Allen?
Bill Gates and Paul Allen established Microsoft on the 4th of April 1975 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Their first product was a BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800 microcomputer.
What major operating system contract did IBM award to Microsoft in November 1980?
IBM awarded Microsoft a contract to provide an operating system for the IBM Personal Computer in November 1980. Microsoft purchased 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products to fulfill this deal while retaining ownership of MS-DOS.
Who succeeded Steve Ballmer as CEO of Microsoft and when did this transition occur?
Satya Nadella succeeded Steve Ballmer as CEO of Microsoft on the 4th of February 2014. He previously led Microsoft's Cloud and Enterprise division before taking the top role.
How much money did Microsoft pay to acquire GitHub and when did the deal close?
Microsoft announced the acquisition of GitHub for $7.5 billion on the 4th of June 2018. This deal closed on the 26th of October 2018.
When did Microsoft become the most valued publicly traded company globally according to January 2024 data?
By January 2024, Microsoft became the most valued publicly traded company globally with revenue reaching $245 billion in fiscal year 2024. The company had net income of $88.1 billion and employed 228,000 people that year.