Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation · MSFT
Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is a US technology company behind Windows, Microsoft 365 and the Azure cloud platform, with most of its business coming from corporate customers.
Company snapshot
- Listing
- Nasdaq: MSFT
- Founded
- 1975
- Headquarters
- Redmond, Washington, US
- Industry
- Software and cloud services
- Website
- www.microsoft.com
What the company does
Microsoft was founded in 1975 and is based in Redmond, Washington. It grew on Windows and Office, now sold as Microsoft 365, and today the Azure cloud is its main growth engine. It also owns LinkedIn, the XBOX gaming brand and the Bing search engine.
How it makes money
Its 10-K for fiscal 2026 (ended June 2026) splits the business into three segments. Productivity and Business Processes holds Microsoft 365, LinkedIn and Dynamics. Intelligent Cloud holds Azure and server products. More Personal Computing holds Windows, XBOX and search advertising. In that report total revenue rose 18% and Microsoft Cloud revenue rose 27% from the prior year.
Why markets watch it
Microsoft is a key partner of OpenAI, and the data center spending it reports each quarter feeds straight into forecasts for AI chip demand. Azure growth is also used as a gauge of corporate IT budgets. It is the largest customer of AI cloud provider CoreWeave. With its large weight in US indexes, its results and guidance often set the tone for tech stocks.