Microsoft

About Microsoft

Microsoft is a global technology company founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. The company began by developing software for early personal computers and later became one of the defining vendors of PC operating systems and productivity software. Microsoft is headquartered at One Microsoft Way in Redmond, Washington, and its shares trade on Nasdaq under the ticker MSFT. Microsoft now operates across a much broader set of markets than desktop software. Its major businesses include cloud infrastructure through Azure, productivity and collaboration through Microsoft 365, operating systems through Windows, business applications through Dynamics 365, low-code development through Power Platform, developer tooling and GitHub, cybersecurity, search and advertising, gaming through Xbox, professional networking through LinkedIn, and hardware such as Surface. These businesses share identity, data, cloud, security, and AI infrastructure, which is an important part of Microsoft's strategy. The company has increasingly organized its product strategy around cloud and AI. Satya Nadella, who became chief executive officer in 2014 and is now chairman and CEO, has overseen the shift from a Windows-centered model toward cloud subscriptions, enterprise platforms, developer services, and AI-assisted workflows. Microsoft uses the Copilot name across several product families, while Azure supplies much of the infrastructure and model-access layer used by Microsoft and its customers. This means buyers evaluating Microsoft as a strategic vendor are often deciding on an ecosystem rather than one isolated application. Microsoft has substantial global scale. Its official facts page reports 228,000 employees worldwide as of June 30, 2025, including 125,000 in the United States and 103,000 internationally. The same company source lists subsidiaries across a large number of countries and operating centers in the United States, Ireland, and Singapore. These figures are useful for understanding vendor scale, but they do not indicate the size of any individual product team. The latest reported results available at the time this profile was prepared are Microsoft's fiscal 2026 third-quarter results for the quarter ended March 31, 2026. Microsoft reported $82.9 billion in quarterly revenue, up 18 percent year over year, with Microsoft Cloud revenue of $54.5 billion. Azure and other cloud services revenue grew 40 percent, Microsoft 365 Commercial cloud revenue grew 19 percent, and Dynamics 365 revenue grew 22 percent. These are corporate-level indicators of business momentum rather than product-performance claims. Microsoft's business model combines subscriptions, consumption-based cloud services, software licensing, advertising, transactions, gaming content and services, devices, and enterprise support. For business buyers, recurring subscriptions and cloud consumption are especially important because total cost can span Microsoft 365 seats, Azure usage, security products, Dynamics applications, Power Platform capacity, Copilot licensing, storage, support, and third-party or marketplace services. Acquisitions have played a major role in Microsoft's expansion. Important completed acquisitions include LinkedIn, GitHub, Nuance, ZeniMax Media, and Activision Blizzard. These businesses broaden Microsoft into professional networking, software development, healthcare AI, and gaming. Buyers should not assume every acquired business is technically or commercially bundled into the rest of Microsoft; many retain distinct products, contracts, and operating models. Microsoft's current AI strategy is also a company-level procurement consideration. Copilot experiences are being integrated across Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, Windows, security products, developer tools, and Azure services. Microsoft also works with multiple model providers in selected products and has continued to evolve its relationship with OpenAI. Organizations adopting Microsoft AI should evaluate data boundaries, identity, model access, compliance, usage-based charges, administrator controls, and how AI features interact with existing Microsoft 365 and Azure environments. For long-term buyers, Microsoft's main advantage is the breadth and interoperability of its ecosystem. Identity through Microsoft Entra, collaboration through Microsoft 365, infrastructure through Azure, business data through Dynamics and Dataverse, and security tooling can be managed within one broad vendor relationship. The trade-off is complexity. Licensing can be difficult to compare, products can overlap, plan names and entitlements change, and organizations can become deeply dependent on Microsoft's identity, productivity, cloud, and data platforms. BrandLigo keeps specific product capabilities, plan prices, and feature comparisons on the relevant brand and product pages so this company profile remains focused on Microsoft as a corporate vendor.

Brands (1)

M Microsoft 1 product