- Microsoft
- Contact information
- Companies selling similar products
- Related pages on Computer Hope
- Company news
- Facts About Microsoft
- Corporate Address
- Important Dates
- Board of Directors
- Microsoft Business Organization
- Operation Centers
- Microsoft Subsidiaries
- Financial Data
- Employment Information
- Real Estate Portfolio
- About Microsoft
Microsoft
Founded on April 4, 1975, by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft is one of the largest and most successful companies in the world. Microsoft is the developer and distributor of Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office, DirectX, Xbox, and numerous other programs, games, and services.
Contact information
If your computer (e.g., Dell or HP) came with Microsoft Windows, you’ll need to contact your computer manufacturer and not Microsoft if you have questions.
| Sales and support: | (800) 426-9400 |
| Main switchboard: | (425) 882-8080 |
| Xbox support: | (800) 4MY-XBOX |
| Xbox TTY: | (866) 740-XBOX |
| Fax: | (425) 706-7329 |
| Free virus and security info: | (866) PC SAFETY |
| Microsoft TDD: | (800) 892-5234 |
| MSN TDD: | (425) 635-4948 |
| Websites: | Microsoft official website. Microsoft Windows official website. Microsoft Office 365 official website. MSN official website. Outlook official website. Xbox official website. |
| E-mail: | Microsoft support. |
| Address: | Microsoft Corporation One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052-6399 USA |
| Locations: | Microsoft locations around the world. |
| Stock: | MSFT |
Companies selling similar products
Related pages on Computer Hope
Company news
April 12, 2021 — Microsoft announced it would be acquire Nuance in a $16 billion deal.
September 21, 2020 — Microsoft announced it acquired ZeniMax Media and its game publisher Bethesda Softworks.
October 2, 2019 — Microsoft introduced the Surface Duo.
June 4, 2018 — Microsoft announced it would acquire GitHub for $7.5 billion.
July 29, 2015 — Microsoft released Windows 10.
April 25, 2014 — The Nokia deal with Microsoft was completed making Nokia now Microsoft Mobile in a deal totaling $7.17 billion.
September 15, 2014 — Microsoft announced it purchased Mojang the makers of Minecraft for $2.5 billion.
February 4, 2014 — Satya Nadella took over as Microsoft CEO.
May 10, 2011 — Microsoft announced plans to acquire Skype for $8.5 billion in cash.
March 14, 2011 — Microsoft released Internet Explorer 9.
November 4, 2010 — Microsoft released the Kinect for the Xbox 360.
July 29, 2009 — Microsoft and Yahoo! reach a 10-year deal to replace the Yahoo! search with Bing.
June 3, 2009 — Microsoft launched the Bing search engine.
July 26, 2006 — Microsoft acquired Gteko research firm for $110 million.
July 18, 2006 — Microsoft acquired Winternals Software.
December 16, 2004 — Microsoft purchased Giant Company Software, a developer of spyware software.
July 15, 2004 — Microsoft announced it would purchase Lookout Software LLC.
June 10, 2003 — GeCAD Software announced a definite agreement with Microsoft in acquiring GeCAD’s antivirus technology RAV.
February 19, 2003 — Microsoft acquired Connectix.
January 21, 2003 — Microsoft acquired PlaceWare.
October 22, 2002 — Microsoft acquired Vicinity Corporation.
September 29, 2002 — Microsoft bought British game developer Rare Ltd. for $375 million.
December 09, 2001 — Microsoft bought Navision for $1.33 billion.
December 09, 2001 — Microsoft announced Windows NT 4.0 was retiring by the end of July 2003.
December 2001 — Microsoft filed a trademark suit against Lindows.com.
October 25, 2001 — Windows XP Home and Professional editions were released.
June 5, 2001 — Microsoft ended free support for Office 97.
May 30, 2001 — Microsoft released Office XP.
May 15, 2001 — Microsoft said Hotmail users top 100 million.
May 3, 2001 — Microsoft acquired Ensemble Studios.
April 30, 2001 — Microsoft acquired NCompass Labs.
April 12, 2001 — MSN reached the 5 million user mark.
2001 — Expedia was broken off from Microsoft.
April 11, 2001 — Microsoft Office tool «Clippy» got the pink slip.
January 07, 2001 — Bill Gates unveiled the Xbox.
December 21, 2000 — Microsoft acquired Great Plains Software.
December 5, 2000 — Microsoft acquired Digital Anvil.
September 18, 2000 — Microsoft acquired Pacific Microsonics Inc
September 13, 2000 — Microsoft acquired MongoMusic.
July 12, 2000 — Microsoft acquired NetGames.
June 19, 2000 — Microsoft Corporation today announced that it had bought Bungie Software Products Corporation for undisclosed terms. This move allows Microsoft to release the highly anticipated game Halo, for its upcoming Xbox.
June 12, 2000 — Microsoft acquired Driveoff.com.
February 29, 2000 — Microsoft acquired Peach Networks.
January 13, 2000 — Bill Gates relinquished his title as CEO to Microsoft President Steve Ballmer.
November 11, 1999 — Microsoft Corp. and RadioShack announced a strategic alliance to accelerate the adoption of Web technologies and consumer connections to the Internet. Under the five-year agreement, the companies would establish a Microsoft «store within a store» in as many as 7,000 RadioShack locations across the nation. Customers can see demonstrations of and sign up for MSN dial-up or broadband Internet access.
October 29, 1999 — Microsoft acquired Entropic.
September 17, 1999 — Microsoft acquired Softway Systems.
September 15, 1999 — Microsoft acquired Visio Corp.
July 21, 1999 — Microsoft acquired STNC.
July 7, 1999 — Microsoft acquired ZOOMIT.
July 1, 1999 — Microsoft acquired Sendit.
June 15, 1999 — Microsoft acquired OmniBrowse Inc.
June 7, 1999 — Microsoft acquired ShadowFactor.
April 26, 1999 — Microsoft acquired Jump Networks.
April 19, 1999 — Microsoft acquired Access software.
March 4, 1999 — Microsoft acquired CompareNet Inc.
January 7, 1999 — Microsoft announced it would acquire FASA Interactive.
December 1998 — Microsoft announced that Hotmail hit over 30 million users.
November 6, 1998 — Microsoft acquired the advertising company LinkExchange for $265 million on November 6, 1998.
August 25, 1998 — Microsoft acquired Valence Research.
April 28, 1998 — Microsoft acquired MESA group.
April 9, 1998 — Microsoft acquired Firefly Network Inc.
February 23, 1998 — Microsoft acquired Flash Communications.
January 3, 1998 — Microsoft completed buy of Hotmail, a deal with a speculated value of up to $400 million.
December 1997 — Microsoft announced it plans to acquire Hotmail a free e-mail service in December 1997.
August 1997 — Microsoft was approved to acquire WebTV.
August 5, 1997 — Microsoft announced acquisition of VXtreme.
June 30, 1997 — Microsoft acquired LinkAge Software.
June 13, 1997 — Microsoft acquired Cooper & Peters.
May 7, 1997 — Microsoft acquired the Dimension X company.
April 6, 1997 — Microsoft acquired WebTV Networks.
March 4, 1997 — Microsoft acquired Interse.
December 10, 1996 — Microsoft acquired NetCarta.
November 20, 1996 — Microsoft acquired ResNova.
July 24, 1996 — Caldera filed a lawsuit against Microsoft for its alleged illegal activities and unfair practices with MS-DOS, Windows 95, and Windows 98, which it claims still use CP/M at their core.
June 11, 1996 — Microsoft acquired eShop Inc.
April 15, 1996 — Microsoft acquired EXOS Inc.
April 8, 1996 — Microsoft acquired aha! software.
March 12, 1996 — Microsoft announced the acquisition of Colusa Software Inc.
March 1996 — Microsoft acquired Aspect Engineering.
1996 — Microsoft VBScript was introduced.
1996 — Microsoft introduced the website Expedia.
January 16, 1996 — Microsoft purchased Vermeer Technologies Inc. for $133 million. The company was a developer of the website development tool FrontPage, which Microsoft later released as its own program.
December 12, 1995 — Microsoft acquired Bruce Artwick Organization.
November 27, 1995 — Microsoft released Internet Explorer 2.0 and officially started the browser war between Netscape.
October 16, 1995 — Microsoft acquired Blue Ribbon Soundworks.
August 1995 — Microsoft Internet Explorer 1.0 was introduced.
November 15, 1994 — Microsoft acquired One Tree Software.
June 28, 1994 — Microsoft acquired Softimage Inc., this company was later sold to Avid Technology Inc. on June 15, 1998.
June 1992 — Microsoft acquired Fox Software for $173 million.
May 2, 1991 — The domain microsoft.com came online.
June 29, 1987 — Microsoft purchased Forethought Incorporated. The company that developed the presentation software PowerPoint.
November 30, 1985 — Microsoft released the first version of Microsoft Excel on the Apple Macintosh.
March 29, 1984 — Microsoft created a new hardware and peripheral division.
July 27, 1981 — Microsoft bought the rights for QDOS from SCP (Seattle Computer Products) for $25,000.
April 4, 1975 — Microsoft was founded.
Facts About Microsoft
Microsoft enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
Corporate Address
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052-7329
USA
Tel: (425) 882-8080
Fax: (425) 706-7329
Important Dates
Event
Board of Directors
| Reid Hoffman | Partner, Greylock Partners |
| Hugh Johnston | Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer, PepsiCo, Inc. |
| Teri L. List | Former Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Gap, Inc. |
| Satya Nadella | Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft Corporation |
| Sandra E. Peterson | Operating Partner, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice |
| Penny Pritzker | Founder and Chairman, PSP Partners |
| Charles W. Scharf | Chief Executive Officer and President, Wells Fargo & Company |
| John W. Stanton | Chairman, Trilogy Partnerships |
| John W. Thompson | Board Chair, Microsoft Corporation |
| Emma Walmsley | Chief Executive Officer, GlaxoSmithKline |
| Padmasree Warrior | Founder, CEO & President, Fable Group Inc. |
As of March 4, 2021
Microsoft Business Organization
Last updated: Jan. 26, 2021
Engineering Groups:
- Cloud + AI Group
Scott Guthrie leads the Microsoft Cloud + AI Group. He is responsible for Microsoft’s cloud computing fabric, Artificial Intelligence platform, and the company’s digital transformation strategy. This spans products and services such as Microsoft Azure, the global cloud computing platform, Microsoft Business Applications, including the automated business process capabilities of Dynamics 365 and low-code/no-code tools in the Power Platform, and Mixed Reality, with HoloLens and Microsoft Mesh. It also includes a rich set of developer tools with Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code and GitHub, core commerce capabilities and infrastructure, and end-to-end security, access management and compliance solutions across the Microsoft Cloud. - Experiences + Devices
Rajesh Jha leads Microsoft’s business that brings Office, Devices and Windows together to build the world’s best experiences, the best devices and the best products for our customers. The group has focus spanning across productivity, communications, education, search and other information services, along with the software platform, apps, store and devices that power the Windows ecosystem. - Technology + Research
As Microsoft’s chief technology officer, Kevin Scott leads the Research and Incubation group and oversees some of Microsoft’s biggest ambitions, including delivering AI at scale. He is responsible for aligning the company’s overall technical strategy while incorporating forward-looking research and development efforts into the company’s infrastructure, services, apps and agents.
Business Functions:
- Business Development Group
Christopher Young leads the Business Development group, responsible for driving growth across the company by setting corporate strategy and identifying and executing high impact strategic partnerships, corporate venture investments, and acquisitions. - Corporate, External, and Legal Affairs
Brad Smith leads as president and chief legal officer. His teams are responsible for the company’s legal work, its intellectual property portfolio, patent licensing business, corporate philanthropy, government affairs, public policy, corporate governance, and social responsibility work. His teams also lead the company’s work on a number of critical issues including privacy, security, accessibility, environmental sustainability and digital inclusion, among others. - Finance Group
Amy Hood leads the worldwide finance organization. This includes acquisitions, treasury, tax planning, global real estate, accounting and reporting, internal audit, business operations and investor relations. - Global Sales, Marketing and Operations
Jean-Philippe Courtois leads global sales, marketing and services for 122 subsidiaries worldwide, driving strategic planning, running global operations and shaping growth initiatives both in developed and emerging markets. - HR Group
Kathleen Hogan leads Human Resources, responsible for pushing the company’s cultural transformation forward so it can thrive in a mobile-first, cloud-first world. - LinkedIn
Ryan Roslansky leads LinkedIn, the world’s largest and most powerful network of professionals. - Marketing Group
Chris Capossela leads Microsoft’s worldwide marketing and consumer business. This includes advertising, brand, communications, research as well as Microsoft’s retail stores. - Worldwide Commercial Business
Judson Althoff leads the Worldwide Commercial Business organization, including enterprise, public sector, small and mid-market, services, developer and partner.
Operation Centers
Last updated: Dec. 31, 2014
| Role | Location |
|---|---|
| Licensing, Manufacturing, Operations and Logistics | Dublin, Ireland |
| Manufacturing | Humacao, Puerto Rico, USA |
| Licensing and Operations | Reno, Nevada, USA |
| Operations and Logistics | Singapore |
Microsoft Subsidiaries
| Albania | Denmark | Kuwait | Puerto Rico |
| Algeria | Dominican Republic | Latvia | Qatar |
| Angola | Ecuador | Lebanon | Romania |
| Argentina | Egypt | Libya | Russia |
| Armenia | El Salvador | Lithuania | Saudi Arabia |
| Australia | Estonia | Luxembourg | Senegal |
| Austria | Finland | Macao SAR | Serbia |
| Azerbaijan | France | Macedonia, Former | Singapore |
| Bahrain | Georgia | Yugoslav Republic of | Slovakia |
| Bangladesh | Germany | Malaysia | Slovenia |
| Belarus | Ghana | Malta | South Africa |
| Belgium | Greece | Mauritius | Spain |
| Bermuda | Guatemala | Mexico | Sri Lanka |
| Bolivia | Honduras | Montenegro | Sweden |
| Bosnia & Herzegovina | Hong Kong SAR | Morocco | Switzerland |
| Brazil | Hungary | Mozambique | Taiwan |
| Brunei | Iceland | Myanmar | Tanzania |
| Bulgaria | India | Namibia | Thailand |
| Cambodia | Indonesia | Netherlands | Trinidad & Tobago |
| Cameroon | Iraq | New Zealand | Tunisia |
| Canada | Oman | Nigeria | Turkey |
| Ireland | Isle of Man | Norway | Turkmenistan |
| Chile | Israel | Uganda | Ukraine |
| China | Italy | Pakistan | United Arab Emirates |
| Colombia | Jamaica | Panama | United Kingdom |
| Costa Rica | Japan | Paraguay | United States |
| Côte d’Ivoire | Jordan | Peru | Uruguay |
| Croatia | Kazakhstan | Philippines | Venezuela |
| Cyprus | Kenya | Poland | Vietnam |
| Czech Republic | Korea | Portugal | Zimbabwe |
As of Dec. 31, 2020
Financial Data
For current information, refer to the Investor Relations website.
Employment Information
Current Employment Headcount
| Location | Employees |
|---|---|
| Worldwide | 168,263 |
| USA | 97,656 |
| Puget Sound (Washington State) | 57,148 |
Functional Breakout (Worldwide)
| Role | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Engineering | 49.3% |
| Global Sales M&O | 16.9% |
| Worldwide Commercial Business | 15.9% |
| 9.4% | |
| Business Functions | 4.1% |
| Finance, HR & Legal | 4.4% |
As of Dec. 31, 2020
Functional breakout does not include CEO in total.
Additional information and details about the demographics of our workforce can be found on the Microsoft Global Diversity & Inclusion site.
Real Estate Portfolio
For real estate information, refer to the 10-K filing on the Investor Relations website.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
Microsoft refers to Microsoft Corp. and its affiliates, including Microsoft Mobile Oy, a subsidiary of Microsoft. Microsoft Mobile Oy develops, manufactures and distributes Nokia X mobile phones and other devices.
