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Microsoft history
Microsoft company history timeline
Their revenues for 1975 totalled $16,000.
It was registered in New Mexico in 1976 after being formed the year before by two childhood friends.
In August 1977, less than a year later, the company opened its first international office.
That same year Microsoft released its second programming language, Microsoft FORTRAN, which was followed in 1978 by a version of COBOL. Both were written for the CP/M operating system, one of many available in the rapidly expanding but still unstandardized microcomputer market.
By the end of 1978 Microsoft had 13 employees, a sales subsidiary in Japan, and $1 million in revenues.
Originally based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Microsoft relocated to Washington State in 1979 and eventually grew into a major multinational technology corporation.
In 1979, the company moved to Bellevue, Washington, and two years later it incorporated under the name Microsoft Inc.
The year 1980 also saw the arrival of Steve Ballmer, a close friend of Gates from Harvard, who was hired to organize the non-technical side of the business.
Microsoft entered the operating system (OS) business in 1980 with its own version of Unix called Xenix, but it was MS-DOS that solidified the company's dominance.
1981: Microsoft, Inc. is incorporated; IBM uses Microsoft's 16-bit operating system for its first personal computer.
1982: Microsoft, U.K., Ltd. is incorporated.
In 1983, Allen departed Microsoft after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma; he was successfully treated for the disease and went on to pursue a variety of other business ventures.
Also in 1983 Microsoft launched a word processing program, Word 1.0, in an effort to supplant the category leader, WordStar.
1983: Paul Allen resigns as executive vice-president but remains on the board; Jon Shirley is made president of Microsoft (he later becomes CEO); Microsoft introduces the Microsoft Mouse and Word for MS-DOS 1.00.
The company expanded into new markets with the release of the Microsoft Mouse in 1983, as well as with a publishing division named Microsoft Press.
Microsoft worked closely with Apple during the development of Apple's Macintosh computer, which was introduced in 1984.
Microsoft released Microsoft Windows on November 20, 1985, as a graphical extension for MS-DOS, despite having begun jointly developing OS/2 with IBM the previous August.
Microsoft dramatically expanded its electronic publishing division, created in 1985 and already notable for the success of its multimedia encyclopaedia, Encarta.
In 1985 Microsoft also introduced Excel 1.0, a Mac spreadsheet product.
In March 1986 Microsoft held an initial public offering (IPO) of 2.5 million shares which raised $61 million.
Word did not become a success until its greatly improved version 3.0 was released in 1986, whereupon the application became Microsoft's best-selling product.
In 1987, the year after Microsoft went public, 31-year-old Gates became the world’s youngest billionaire.
1987: The company's first CD-ROM application, Microsoft Bookshelf, is released.
In 1988 Microsoft surpassed Lotus Development Corporation as the leading software vendor, with more than $500 million in sales.
Since 1988, Microsoft's use of per processor licenses has increased."
In 1989 the company introduced Microsoft Office, a "suite" of programs that eventually came to dominate the market and become Microsoft's best-selling application product.
Microsoft deepened its position in operating systems with Windows, a graphical user interface whose third version, released in 1990, gained a wide following.
1990: Jon Shirley retires as president and CEO; Michael R. Hallman is promoted in Shirley's place; the company becomes the first PC software firm to surpass $1 billion of sales in a single year.
In 1990, the Federal Trade Commission examined Microsoft for possible collusion due to the partnership with IBM, marking the beginning of more than a decade of legal clashes with the government.
In 1990, Microsoft introduced the Microsoft Office suite which bundled separate applications such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel.
1992: Bill Gates is awarded the National Medal of Technology for Technological Achievement.
A United States Justice Department investigation concluded in 1994 with a settlement in which Microsoft changed some sales practices that the government contended enabled the company to unfairly discourage OS customers from trying alternative programs.
Revenues for 1994 exceeded $4 billion.
In response, Netscape accused Microsoft of violating its 1995 consent decree and sued; those efforts helped to persuade the Justice Department to reopen a broad investigation of Microsoft.
1995: Bill Gates publishes his first book, The Road Ahead.
1996: The company acquires Vermeer Technologies and its software application, FrontPage.
Branching out into new markets in 1996, Microsoft and General Electric's NBC unit created a new 24/7 cable news channel, MSNBC. Microsoft created Windows CE 1.0, a new OS designed for devices with low memory and other constraints, such as personal digital assistants.
After an intensive investigation of Microsoft's competitive practices that had gone on for much of the decade, in 1998 the United States Department of Justice and a group of 20 state attorneys general filed two antitrust cases against Microsoft alleging violations of the Sherman Act.
Additionally, net income rose to $7.79 billion, a dramatic 73 percent increase over 1998.
Various companies including Microsoft formed the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance in October 1999 to (among other things) increase security and protect intellectual property through identifying changes in hardware and software.
Microsoft continued to grow rapidly, increasing its net revenue by 29 percent, to $19.7 billion, in 1999.
In 2000 Steve Ballmer was appointed the new CEO of Microsoft.
Unprecedented Growth in 2000 and Beyond
At the same time, net revenue continued to increase, up 10 percent from 2000.
Also in 2000, Microsoft invested $135 million in the software publisher Corel.
2000: The company acquires Visio Corporation, its largest acquisition to date.
In 2001 an appeals court overturned the breakup order but still found the company guilty of illegally trying to maintain a monopoly.
Microsoft began planning a major replacement for all of its operating systems in 2001.
The total expenditures took a temporary toll on Microsoft's net income, which dropped 22 percent, to $7.35 billion, in 2001.
In 2002 it launched Xbox Live, a broadband gaming network for its consoles.
Microsoft's net revenue increased to $28.37 billion in 2002, while net income rebounded, gaining 6 percent from the previous year.
The launching of Windows Server 2003, the largest software development project in the company's history to date, contributed to the growth.
In 2003, Microsoft saw an impressive 28 percent jump in net income, to reach just below $10 billion.
In April 2004, the company was fined by the European Union for abusing its monopoly on computer operating systems.
The company’s legal woes continued in 2004: the European Union (EU) levied the largest fine in the organization’s history to that point, €497.2 million ($611 million), in retaliation for what were described as Microsoft’s near-monopoly practices.
By 2004, with more than 56,000 employees and anticipated year-end revenues of up to $38 billion, Microsoft continued to hold a strong lead in the computer software industry.
A more powerful gaming console, the Xbox 360, was released in 2005.
Increasingly present in the hardware business following Xbox, Microsoft in 2006 released the Zune series of digital media players, a successor of its previous software platform Portable Media Center.
Relatively strong sales of both products helped to produce a record profit in 2007.
Microsoft stated that it was in compliance and that "these fines are about the past issues that have been resolved". 2007 also saw the creation of a multi-core unit at Microsoft, following the steps of server companies such as Sun and IBM.
Azure Services Platform, the company's entry into the cloud computing market for Windows, launched on October 27, 2008.
In 2008 Gates left the day-to-day running of the company to Ballmer, Ozzie, and other managers, though he remained as chairman of the board.
With the release in 2009 of Windows 7, the replacement for Vista, to critical praise by reviewers and analysts, Microsoft’s lead remained intact.
But at the same time, the price cuts also led to a 6 percent drop in revenue in Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Division (EDD). The Xbox 360 was succeeded in 2013 by the Xbox One, which in turn was replaced by Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S in 2020. For example, in 2009 the company cut the price of the Xbox 360 Elite by as much as 25 percent in order to pick up market share.
Fellow founders were Google, HP Networking, Yahoo!, Verizon Communications, Deutsche Telekom and 17 other companies. As a result, in 2010 Microsoft revamped their aging flagship mobile operating system, Windows Mobile, replacing it with the new Windows Phone OS that was released in October that year.
The move was successful; by 2010 the Xbox 360 was the most-used game console in the American home.
Microsoft unveiled Windows 8, an operating system designed to power both personal computers and tablet computers, in Taipei in June 2011.
In 2011 Microsoft released Office 365, a cloud version of its highly profitable Office business software suite (comprising Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneNote) that included services and features similar to those of Google Docs.
In 2011 Microsoft bought the Internet voice communication company Skype for $8.5 billion, which at that time was the largest acquisition in Microsoft’s history.
On September 4, 2012, Microsoft released Windows Server 2012.
In 2012 it introduced Surface, a line of hybrid tablet computers with hardware designed by Microsoft itself, a first for the company.
To cope with the potential for an increase in demand for products and services, Microsoft opened a number of "holiday stores" across the United States to complement the increasing number of "bricks-and-mortar" Microsoft Stores that opened in 2012.
On March 29, 2013, Microsoft launched a Patent Tracker.
In line with the maturing PC business, in July 2013, Microsoft announced that it would reorganize the business into four new business divisions, namely Operating System, Apps, Cloud, and Devices.
On September 3, 2013, Microsoft agreed to buy Nokia's mobile unit for $7 billion, following Amy Hood taking the role of CFO.
On February 4, 2014, Steve Ballmer stepped down as CEO of Microsoft and was succeeded by Satya Nadella, who previously led Microsoft's Cloud and Enterprise division.
On April 25, 2014, Microsoft acquired Nokia Devices and Services for $7.2 billion.
dsp Selected as a Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Launch Partner!
PC makers, who were contractually required by Microsoft to ship products with Vista, were compelled to offer “downgrades” from Vista to XP, and user appreciation even compelled Microsoft to extend its official support of the older OS through 2014, three years beyond its normal support policies.
On January 21, 2015, Microsoft announced the release of their first Interactive whiteboard, Microsoft Surface Hub.
On March 1, 2016, Microsoft announced the merger of its PC and Xbox divisions, with Phil Spencer announcing that Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps would be the focus for Microsoft's gaming in the future.
In May 2016, the company announced it was laying off 1,850 workers, and taking an impairment and restructuring charge of $950 million.
In November 2016, Microsoft joined the Linux Foundation as a Platinum member during Microsoft's Connect(); developer event in New York.
In 2016 Microsoft made an even larger acquisition with its $26.2 billion purchase of the career-focused social networking company LinkedIn.
On June 8, 2017, Microsoft acquired Hexadite, an Israeli security firm, for $100 million.
In March 2018, Microsoft recalled Windows 10 S to change it to a mode for the Windows operating system rather than a separate and unique operating system.
On June 4, 2018, Microsoft officially announced the acquisition of GitHub for $7.5 billion, a deal that closed on October 26, 2018.
On July 10, 2018, Microsoft revealed the Surface Go platform to the public.
In August 2018, Toyota Tsusho began a partnership with Microsoft to create fish farming tools using the Microsoft Azure application suite for Internet of things (IoT) technologies related to water management.
In February 2019, hundreds of Microsoft employees protested the company's war profiteering from a $480 million contract to develop virtual reality headsets for the United States Army.
On March 26, 2020, Microsoft announced it was acquiring Affirmed Networks for about $1.35 billion.
On July 22, 2020, Microsoft announced plans to close its Mixer service, planning to move existing partners to Facebook Gaming.
On September 22, 2020, Microsoft announced that it had an exclusive license to use OpenAI’s GPT-3 artificial intelligence language generator.
On November 10, 2020, Microsoft released the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S video game consoles.
On March 9, 2021, the acquisition was finalized and ZeniMax Media became part of Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios division.
In April 2021, Microsoft said that it will buy Nuance Communications for about $16 billion in cash.
On June 24, 2021, Microsoft announced Windows 11 during a livestream.
In October 2021, Microsoft announced that it began rolling out end-to-end encryption (E2EE) support for Microsoft Teams calls in order to secure business communication while using video conferencing software.
The announcement came with confusion after Microsoft announced Windows 10 would be the last version of the operating system; set to be released in Fall 2021. It was released to the general public on October 5, 2021.
On January 18, 2022, Microsoft announced the acquisition of American video game developer and holding company Activision Blizzard in an all-cash deal worth $68.7 billion.
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Microsoft competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IBM | 1911 | $62.8B | 270,000 | 4,157 |
| Adobe | 1982 | $21.5B | 11,847 | 1,083 |
| Dell | 1984 | $95.6B | 165,000 | 143 |
| 1998 | $350.0B | 139,995 | 4,118 | |
| VMware | 1998 | $13.4B | 31,000 | 2 |
| Intel | 1968 | $53.1B | 121,100 | 421 |
| NVIDIA | 1993 | $130.5B | 18,100 | 1,318 |
| Box | 2005 | $1.1B | 1,934 | 116 |
| Sophos | 1996 | $65.2M | 3,600 | 25 |
| Amd | 1969 | $25.8B | 15,500 | 552 |
Microsoft history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Microsoft, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Microsoft. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Microsoft. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Microsoft. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Microsoft and its employees or that of Zippia.
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