How Microsoft Can Help Your Business
Founded in 1975 by Harvard University dropouts Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft is the world’s largest software company. Its vast array of products range from desktop office functions to cloud computing and artificial intelligence. It also has a line of hardware devices and operates research labs in Cambridge, England; Beijing; and Bengaluru, India.
The company gained dominance in the operating systems business during the 1980s and ’90s, notably with MS-DOS and Windows, which introduced a graphical user interface. Microsoft grew in the productivity software market, too, with its Word and Excel programs beating out rivals like Lotus and WordPerfect. In the Internet age, Microsoft deepened its position with Bing and other search services, and helped connect millions of people to the World Wide Web for the first time with its Internet Explorer browser.
In the early aughts, the company diversified into hardware with the release of its Surface series of tablets and laptops. More recently, it has invested heavily in online collaboration tools, such as Teams and Skype, which can be used by businesses for internal messaging, meetings and file sharing.
Its cloud computing platform Azure is used by organizations to store and manage data in the cloud. In addition, Microsoft has a suite of mobile apps to help businesses work more efficiently on the go. One such app, Microsoft Teams, allows businesses to collaborate with guests by allowing them to join internal channels for messaging, meetings and document editing.
Corporate social responsibility is a core aspect of Microsoft’s operation, and the company strives to operate ethically and sustainably. Its employees are encouraged to volunteer in their communities and support the causes that they care about, and the company has donated billions of dollars in its history to charitable causes worldwide. Its CEO, Satya Nadella, has led the company through a period of transition, and the company continues to invest in new technologies, including AI.
The company’s executive team consists of sixteen company officers from around the world, and handles worldwide matters. The group includes the chairman and chief software architect, along with the CEO and other senior executives from each business unit. It also includes the legal and corporate affairs, finance, human resources and advanced strategy and policy groups.
Microsoft has a number of subsidiaries, including LinkedIn and Bing. Bing competes with Google in the search engine space, and is also used as a search option in Yahoo!. The company also owns the Los Angeles Clippers NBA franchise. In addition, it owns a minority stake in TikTok, a Chinese-based video sharing service. Its headquarters are located in Redmond, Washington. The company is privately held and has two significant shareholders, Bradford L. Smith and Jean-Philippe Courtois, each holding 0.01% of the total shares. A third shareholder, Microsoft Employees Trust, is an employee-owned investment fund. The company is a member of the NASDAQ Global Select Market and the S&P 500. The company’s stock price has varied over the years, but it has remained fairly steady since the mid-2000s.
