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 Current home page in June 2025 | |
Type of site | Web portal |
|---|---|
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Owner | Microsoft |
| URL | msn.com |
| Commercial | Mixed |
| Registration | Optional |
| Launched | August 24, 1995; 29 years ago (1995-08-24) |
| Current status | Active |
| Written in | ASP.NET[1] |
MSN is aweb portal and related collection ofInternet services andapps provided byMicrosoft. The main home page provides news, weather, sports, finance and other content curated from hundreds of different sources that Microsoft has partnered with.[2] MSN is based in the United States and offers international versions of its portal for dozens of countries around the world.[3] Itsdedicated app is currently available foriOS andAndroid systems.
The first version of MSN originally launched on August 24, 1995, alongside the release ofWindows 95,[4] as a subscription-baseddial-uponline service calledThe Microsoft Network; it later became anInternet service provider namedMSN Dial-Up Internet Access. Also around this time, the company launched a new web portal namedMicrosoft Internet Start and set it as the defaulthome page ofInternet Explorer, itsweb browser. In 1998, Microsoft renamed and moved this web portal to thedomain namemsn.com, where it has remained since.[5]
Microsoft subsequently used the "MSN" brand name fora wide variety of products and services over the years, notablyMSN Hotmail (laterOutlook.com),MSN Messenger (which was once synonymous with "MSN" inInternet slang), itsweb search engine (which becameBing), and several other rebranded and discontinued services. In 2014, Microsoft reworked and relaunched the MSN website and suite of apps offered.[6] Following a partial rebranding of the website toMicrosoft Start beginning in 2021, the company reversed course in 2024 and kept "MSN" as the name of the website.[7]
From 1995 to 1998, the MSN.com domain was primarily used by Microsoft to promoteThe Microsoft Network as an online service and Internet service provider. During that period of time, MSN.com also offered a "Custom Start Page" and an Internet tutorial, but Microsoft's major publicweb portal of that era was known as "Microsoft Internet Start" and was located athome.microsoft.com.
Internet Start served as the defaulthome page forInternet Explorer and offered basic information such as news, weather, sports, stocks, entertainment reports, links to other websites on the Internet, articles by Microsoft staff members, and software updates for Windows. Microsoft's original news website, MSNBC.com, which launched in 1996 (and was later divested by Microsoft asNBCNews.com), was also tied closely to the Internet Start portal.
In 1998, the largely underutilized "MSN.com"domain name was combined with Microsoft Internet Start and reinvented as both aweb portal and as the brand for a family of sites produced inside Microsoft's Interactive Media Group. The new website put MSN in direct competition with sites such asYahoo!,Excite, andGo Network. Because the new format opened up MSN's content to the world for free, the Internet service provider and subscription service were renamed to "MSN Internet Access" at that time (that service eventually became known asMSN Dial-Up Internet Access).[5]
The relaunched MSN.com contained a whole family of sites, including original content, channels that were carried over from 'web shows' that were part of Microsoft'sMSN 2.0 experiment withits Internet service provider in 1996–97, and new features that were rapidly added. MSN.com became the successor to the default Internet Explorer start page, as all of the previous "Microsoft Internet Start" website was merged with MSN.com.[5]
Some of the original websites that Microsoft launched during that era remained active in some form for decades. Microsoft Investor, abusiness news andinvestments service that was once produced in conjunction withCNBC, became MSN Money;[8][9][10] CarPoint, anautomobile comparison and shopping service, became MSN Autos; and the Internet Gaming Zone, a website offering onlinecasual games, becameMSN Games. Other websites since divested by Microsoft include the travel websiteExpedia, the online magazineSlate, and the local event and city search websiteSidewalk.com.
In the late 1990s, Microsoft collaborated with many other service providers, as well as other Microsoft departments, to expand the range of MSN's services. Some examples includeMSN adCenter,MSN Shopping (affiliated witheBay,PriceGrabber andShopping.com), and theEncarta encyclopedia with various levels of access to information.
Since then, MSN.com remained a popular destination, launching many new services and content sites. MSN'sHotmail andMessenger services were promoted from the MSN.com portal, which provided a central place for all of MSN's content.MSN Search (which became Bing), a dedicatedsearch engine, launched in 1999. The single sign-in service for Microsoft's online services,Microsoft Passport (laterMicrosoft account), also launched across all MSN services in 1999.
The MSN.com portal and related group of services under the "MSN" umbrella remained largely the same in the early 2000s. This era also saw the introduction of the MSNbutterflylogo on February 14, 2000, which went on to define the brand of all MSN services from that point forward.[11]
The sports section of the MSN portal wasESPN.com from 2001 to 2004, andFoxSports.com from 2004 to 2014.[12][13] MSN had an exclusive partnership withMSNBC.com for news content from 1996 until 2012, when Microsoft sold its remaining stake in msnbc.com toNBCUniversal and the website was renamedNBCNews.com. At the time, MSN launched "MSN News", an in-house news operation.[14]
As of May 2005, MSN.com was the second most visited portal website in the United States with a share of 23.2 percent, behindYahoo! which held a majority.[15]
MSN released a preview of an updated home page and logo on November 3, 2009.[16] It was originally expected to be widely available to over 100 million U.S. customers by early 2010.[17][18] MSN rolled out the newer logo, together with a redesign of the overall website, on December 25, 2009.[19][20]
In 2012, MSN announced on its blog that it would be unveiling a new version of the MSN.comhome page on October 26, exclusively forWindows 8, saying that the new version would be "clean, simple, and built for touch".[21] Microsoft said it would be more app-like due to the speed ofInternet Explorer 10. More new features included "Flip Ahead", which allowed users to swipe from one article to the next. MSN for Windows 8 also had new deals with theAP andReuters.[22]
Many ofMSN's services were reorganized in 2005 and 2006 under a new brand name that Microsoft championed at the time, Windows Live. This move was part of Microsoft's strategy to improve its online offerings using theWindows brand name. The company also overhauled its onlinesoftware and services due to increasing competition from rivals such as Yahoo! andGoogle. The new name was introduced one service at a time. The group of Windows Live services usedWeb 2.0 technology to offer features and functionality through a web browser that were traditionally only available through dedicated software programs.
Some of the MSN services affected by the rebranding includedMSN Hotmail, which becameWindows Live Hotmail (nowOutlook.com);MSN Messenger, which becameWindows Live Messenger (later integrated intoSkype);MSN Search, which becameLive Search (now known as Bing);MSN Virtual Earth, which becameLive Search Maps (nowBing Maps);MSN Spaces, which becameWindows Live Spaces;MSN Alerts, which becameWindows Live Alerts; andMSN Groups, which becameWindows Live Groups. Some other services, such asMSN Direct, remained a part of the MSN family without transitioning to Windows Live.
Following the launch of Windows Live, the MSN brand took on a different focus. MSN became primarily an online content provider of news, entertainment, and common interest topics through its web portal, MSN.com, while Windows Live provided most of Microsoft's online software and services. In 2012, Microsoft began to phase out the Windows Live brand, referring to each service separately by its individual brand name without any "Windows" prefix or association.[23]
Microsoft launched a completely rewritten and redesigned MSN website, making use of the company'smodern design language, on September 30, 2014.[6] The new MSN portal featured a new version of the logo that followed a style similar to other contemporary Microsoft products. The website no longer offered original content, instead employing editors to repurpose existing content from partners at popular and trusted organizations. Much of the existing content offered on MSN was eliminated as the website was simplified into a newhome page and categories, some of which hadcorresponding apps:[24]
The top of the home page in 2014 provided access to Microsoft servicesBing,Outlook.com,Skype,Office Online,OneNote,OneDrive,Bing Maps, andGroove Music, as well as popularsocial media servicesFacebook andTwitter.[6] Signing into MSN with aMicrosoft account allowed for personalized content to appear and to be synchronized across devices on the website and in thecorresponding apps. The redesign of the website led to the closure of MSN's longtime personalized home page service "My MSN", which was made up of customizedRSS feeds, as the new website no longer supported user-specified RSS content. However, it added some customizability, allowing each category on the home page to be reordered or hidden.
With the 2014 relaunch, MSN began supportingresponsive design and eliminated the need for a separatemobile website. The redesign of MSN proved positive and helped increase traffic with an additional 10 million daily visitors after two months.[26]
In 2021, Microsoft began phasing out MSN in favor ofMicrosoft Start, with an updated design, news pages being moved to Start, and ads for the website appearing on the homepage. This was reversed in November 2024, with the Microsoft Start page redirecting back to MSN.[7] Microsoft also brought back the MSN app in November 2024.[27]
| MSN | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Other names |
| ||||||
| Developer(s) | Microsoft | ||||||
| Initial release | 26 October 2012; 12 years ago (2012-10-26) | ||||||
| Stable release(s)[±] | |||||||
| |||||||
| Operating system | Windows,iOS,Android | ||||||
| Type | News aggregator | ||||||
| Website | Official website App for Windows App for iOS App for Android | ||||||
| MSN Weather | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Microsoft |
| Initial release | 26 October 2012; 12 years ago (2012-10-26) |
| Stable release | |
| Operating system | Windows,Android |
| Website | Official website App for Windows App for Android |
| MSN Money | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Microsoft |
| Initial release | 7 February 2012; 13 years ago (2012-02-07) |
| Stable release | |
| Operating system | Windows,Android |
| Website | Official website App for Windows App for Android |
The MSNapps provide users information from sources that publish to MSN. Microsoft launched these apps along with the 2014 redesign of the MSN web portal, rebranding many of theBing apps that originally shipped withWindows 8 andWindows Phone in 2012. News, Weather, Sports, Money, and Travel first shipped with Windows 8, while Health & Fitness and Food & Drink first appeared inWindows 8.1.[34][35] In December 2014, the apps became available across all the other majormobile device platforms as well:iOS,Android, andFire OS.[36][37][38][39][40] The apps have since been limited to fewer platforms.
The apps allowed users a reasonable amount of freedom to decide which sources provide information. Each app has its own color code that was used on the Windows live tile and internally. Originally, each app brought a unified experience with the MSN website and synchronized preferences across devices.
There are currently three apps: the MSN app, MSN Weather, and MSN Money.[41] In July 2015, Microsoft announced the discontinuation of the Food & Drink, Health & Fitness, and Travel apps on all platforms, and that they would not be bundled withWindows 10; those apps, and Sports, are no longer offered.[42]
TheMSN app (on iOS and Android, alternatively namedMicrosoft News on Windows) is anews aggregator and service that features top news headlines and articles chosen by editors and automated systems. It includes news sections for top stories, U.S., world, money, technology, entertainment, opinion, sports, and crime, along with other miscellaneous stories. The app allows users to set their own personalized favorite topics and sources, receive notifications of breaking news through alerts, filter preferred news sources, and alter font sizes to make articles easier to read.[43]
Development of the initial app began in May 2012, ahead of theWindows 8 Release Preview, and then it officially launched alongside Windows 8 on October 26, 2012. The app was originally named "Bing News" at the time of its launch in 2012, rebranded "MSN News" in 2014, again renamed "Microsoft News" in 2018,[44] and once again relaunched as "Microsoft Start" on iOS and Android in 2021.[45] In November 2024, Microsoft decided to retire the "Microsoft Start" branding and bring back the "MSN" name for the app. According toWindows Central, the company stated that this update was meant to simplify branding while keeping all existing functionalities unchanged.[27]
Originally, the app included an RSS feed, but that capability was removed; Microsoft currently only allows users to subscribe to specified news sources, thereby curating news.[46] The app used the chaseable live tile feature introduced in theWindows 10 Anniversary Update; if a user clicked on the Microsoft NewsStart menu tile when a particular story is shown, the user would see a link to that story at the top of the app when it launches.[47]
TheMSN Weather app (originally named "Bing Weather") shows weather from a user's current location or any other location worldwide, and it allows users to define their favorite places, which will synchronize back to the Microsoft Start and across devices. Users can pin Weather tiles to theStart menu to see local weather conditions from multiple locations at a glance. It also offers satellite maps and has information regardingski resorts.[48] The app receives its weather conditions andforecasts from a variety of sources internationally.[49] Weather uses weather conditions as the background, making it the only app that does not have a light/dark switch in Windows 10. Weather is not available for iOS; however, it came preinstalled on theNokia 215 phone fromMicrosoft Mobile that ranSeries 30+; it was the onlyfeature phone to have the app built-in.[50]
TheMSN Money app (originally a website named "MoneyCentral", and later "MSN MoneyCentral", and then "MSN Money" in the 2000s, prior to the app being relaunched in 2014 as a rebranding of "Bing Finance") allows users to set up lists of publicly listed companies to watch, follow certaincorporations and receive stock updates, get the latest headlines regarding international markets, view real-time trading figures with a 30-minute delay, track their ownpersonal finances, calculatemortgages, get information onbonds and other financial assets, andconvert currency.[51][52][53]
TheMSN Food & Drink app (originally named "Bing Food & Drink") was arecipe app that offered news related to foods and drinks, a personalshopping list that synchronized across devices and the web, and awine encyclopedia that contained information on over 1.5 millionbottles of wine, over 3.3 milliontasting notes, and hundreds ofcocktail recipes.[54] Users could control the app hands-free, add their own recipes from physicalcookbooks or personal recipes by snapping a photo, add notes to recipes, and sort the recipes into collections.[55] The app also listed information from famouschefs according to their style of cuisine.[56]
TheMSN Health & Fitness app (originally named "Bing Health & Fitness") allowed users to track theircalorie intake, look up nutritional information for hundreds of thousands of different foods, use a built-inGPS tracker, view step-by-stepworkouts andexercises with images and videos, checksymptoms for various health conditions, and synchronize their health data to third-party devices such asactivity trackers.[57][58][59] MSN Health & Fitness formerly connected data with theMicrosoft HealthVault, but it started using aMicrosoft account with MSN's owncloud service to synchronize data when it was rebranded from Bing to MSN.[60][61] The app was not related to Microsoft'sXbox Fitness or Microsoft Health (the companion app for theMicrosoft Band), despite being similar in function.[62]
TheMSN Travel app (originally named "Bing Travel") was a travel search engine that allowed users to bookhotels andflights, aggregated travel-related news, and offered detailed information about thousands of travel destinations.[63] Data in the app was powered by various travel websites, includingExpedia, formerly owned by Microsoft.[64] Other features included finding information on localrestaurants, viewing pictures (includingpanoramas) and historical data about destinations, and reading reviews by previous travelers.[65] If the user was signed in,Cortana could track flights and get hotel information through the app.[66] MSN Travel was the only app in the suite that was exclusive to Windows. The app was discontinued in September 2015, but remained on the website for several years after that.[67] The name "MSN Travel" was previously associated withFarecast, an airfare prediction website that Microsoft acquired in 2008.
TheMSN Sports app (originally named "Bing Sports") displayed varioussports scores and standings from hundreds of leagues around the world, as well as aggregated sports-related articles and news headlines.[68][69][70][71] Sports also allowed the user to view slideshows and photo galleries, look up information about individual players andfantasy leagues, and set and track their favorite teams by selecting various topics from the menu.[72][73] It also powered various predictive features within Microsoft'sCortanavirtual assistant.[74] It was discontinued on July 20, 2021, but remained on the website.[75]
TheMSN Esports Hub[76] was a Bing intelligenceAI curatedweb app launched for the growingesports industry in 2020. Users could watch integrated streams fromYouTube orTwitch. Microsoft's advanced AI called "Watch For", the algorithm originally made for Microsoft'sMixer was an artificial intelligence that used computer vision algorithms on livestreams so that it can alert the viewer of significant moments. This algorithm was implemented in the MSN Esports Hub.[77][76] Users could also check a calendar for dates of upcoming esport events and tournaments. After the creation of the MSN Esports Hub, Microsoft acquired esports tournament platform "Smash.gg".[78] Supported games includedLeague of Legends,Valorant,Counter-Strike: Global Offensive,Dota 2,Overwatch,Fortnite Battle Royale,PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds,Call of Duty: Modern Warfare,Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege,Rocket League,FIFA,Gears of War, andSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate. The service was replaced byStart.gg.
Microsoft first offered content from its MSN web portal onmobile devices in the early 2000s, through a service calledPocket MSN (in line with itsPocket PC products of the era) and later renamedMSN Mobile. The original MSN Mobile software was preloaded on manycell phones andPDAs, and usually provided access to legacy MSN services like blogs (MSN Spaces), email (Hotmail), instant messaging (MSN Messenger), and web search (now calledBing). Somewireless carriers charged a premium to access it.[citation needed] As many former MSN properties were spun off toBing,Windows Live, and other successors in the late 2000s, theMicrosoft Mobile Services division took over the development of mobile apps related to those services.
In the meantime, Microsoft's MSN apps took on a more content-related focus, as did the web portal itself. Previous versions of MSN apps that were bundled withWindows Mobile and early versions ofWindows Phone,[79] as well as MSN apps forAndroid andiOS devices in the early 2010s, were primarily repositories for news articles found on MSN.com.[80][81][82] Other earlier MSN mobile apps included versions of MSN Weather and MSN Money forWindows Mobile 6.5,[83][84][85] MSN Money Stocks, and amen's magazine called "MSN OnIt" forWindows Phone 7.[86][87]
AfterMicrosoft's acquisition ofNokia's mobile phone division, Microsoft also started bundling MSN services with itsNokia-branded feature phones, though the only supported model was theNokia 215.[88][89][50] In addition to these apps, Microsoft developed aseparate set of mobile apps specifically forMSN China.
Microsoft's world headquarters is in the United States, so the main MSN website is based there. However, MSN has offered various international versions of its portal since its inception in 1995 for dozens of countries around the world.[3] A list of international MSN affiliates is available on a web page namedMSN Worldwide.
Following the redesign and relaunch of the MSN website in 2014, most international MSN websites share the same layout as the U.S. version and are largely indistinguishable from it, aside from their content. There were two exceptions:ninemsn, a longtime partnership between Microsoft and theNine Network in Australia that launched in 1997 (Microsoft sold its stake in the venture in 2013 and ended its co-branding with Nine in 2016);[90] andMSN China, an entirely customized version of MSN for China (Microsoft discontinued the portal in 2016, replacing it with a page that links to a number of other Chinese websites).[91]
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