Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) is an American multinational computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range ofsoftware products for computing devices.

Headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA, its best-known software products are theMicrosoft Windowsoperating system, theMicrosoft Office suite of productivity software, and theInternet Explorer andEdgeweb browsers. Its flagship hardware products are theXbox video game consoles and theMicrosoft Surface line of touchscreen personal computers.

In 2018, Microsoft became the most valuable publicly traded company in the world, a position it has repeatedly traded withApple in the years since. In April 2019, Microsoft reached a trillion-dollar market cap, becoming the third U.S. public company to be valued at over $1 trillion after Apple and Amazon, respectively. As of 2024, Microsoft has the third-highest global brand valuation.

Microsofthas been criticized for its monopolistic practices, and the company's software has been criticized for problems with ease of use, robustness, and security.

The company'sinitial public offering (IPO) was in 1986; the ensuing rise of the company's stock price has made four billionaires and an estimated 12,000 millionaires from Microsoft employees.

Microsoft is one of only two U.S.-based companies that have a prime credit rating of AAA.

History[]

Main article:History of Microsoft Windows

Microsoft originally was formed as the "Micro-Soft" partnership byBill Gates,Paul Allen, andMonte Davidoff in February 1975 inorder to work together to develop and sell theAltair BASIC interpreter for theAltair 8800, it's development spanned from February to May of that year to demonstrate the product atMITS in June 1975. During the development of the interpreter, the partnership was formally incorporated into a company on April 4, 1975, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, US.

Main article:List of early Microsoft employees

In December 1978, the company had 13 employees and was relocated fromAlbuquerque, New Mexico to Bellevue, Washington on January 1, 1979.^[2]

Microsoft rose to dominate the home computer operating system market withMS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by theWindows line ofoperating systems. Many of its products have achieved near-ubiquity in thepersonal computer market. One commentator notes that Microsoft's original mission was "a computer on every desk and in every home, running Microsoft software."

Throughout its history the company has been thetarget of criticism, includingmonopolistic business practices and anti-competitive strategies includingrefusal to deal andtying. TheU.S. Department of Justice and theEuropean Commission, among others, have ruled against Microsoft forantitrust violations.(see alsoUnited States v. Microsoft,European Union Microsoft antitrust case)

History of Microsoft -- 1975

The original Microsoft employees on December 7, 1978 shortly before the move to Bellevue, Washington

Structure[]

Product divisions[]

The management and finances of Microsoft's products are currently arranged into five business divisions:

• Windows & Windows Live Division - TheMicrosoft Windows product family, theWindows Live online services, and managing relationships withOEMs
• Server and Tools: Server software products, services and solutions, including:Windows Server,SQL Server,Visual Studio,Silverlight,System Center products,Forefront security products,Biz Talk, andMicrosoft Consulting Services.
• Online Services Division: Consists of an online advertising platform with offerings for publishers and advertisers, and online information offerings such asBing and theMSN portals and channels.
• Microsoft Business Division: Includes theMicrosoft Office suites, desktop programs, servers, and services and solutions;Microsoft Dynamics; andUnified Communications business solutions.
• Entertainment and Devices Division:Xbox,Xbox Live,Zune,Mediaroom, mobile and embedded device platforms,Surface computing platform, andWindows Automotive.

Board of directors[]

The company is run by aboard of directors, made up of mostly company outsiders (as is customary forpublicly traded companies).

Current members of theboard of directors are:^[3]

• Satya Nadella - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
• John W. Thompson - Lead independent director, Microsoft; Chairman, Illumina
• Reid Hoffman - Parter, Greylock Partners
• Hugh Johnston - Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer, PepsiCo
• Teri List - Former Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Gap Inc.
• Sandra E. Peterson - Operating Partner, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice
• Penny Pritzker - Founder and Chairman, PSP Partners
• Charles W. Scharf - CEO and President, Wells Fargo & Company
• John W. Stanton - Chairman, Trilogy Partnerships
• Emma Walmsley - CEO, GlaxoSmithKline
• Padmasree Warrior - Founder, CEO and President, Fable Group Inc.

The board members are elected every year at the annual shareholders' meeting, and those who do not get a majority of votes must submit a resignation to the board, which will subsequently choose whether or not to accept the resignation.

There are four committees within the board which oversee more specific matters. These committees include the Audit Committee, which handles accounting issues with the company including auditing and reporting; the Compensation Committee, which approves compensation for the CEO and other employees of the company; the Governance and Nominating Committee, which handles various corporate matters including nomination of the board; and the Regulatory and Public Policy, which oversees the company practices to comply with laws and regulations.^[4]

Chief executives[]

1. Bill Gates (1975-2000)
2. Steve Ballmer (2000-2014)
3. Satya Nadella (since 2014)

Other corporate structures[]

There are several other aspects to the corporate structure of Microsoft. For worldwide matters there is the Executive Team, made up of sixteen company officers across the globe, which is charged with various duties including making sure employees understand Microsoft's culture of business. The sixteen officers of the Executive Team include the Chairman andChief Software Architect, theCEO, theGeneral Counsel and Secretary, theCFO, senior and group vice presidents from the business units, the CEO of the Europe, the Middle East and Africa regions; and the heads of Worldwide Sales, Marketing and Services; Human Resources; and Corporate Marketing. In addition to the Executive Team there is also the Corporate Staff Council, which handles all major staff functions of the company, including approving corporate policies. The Corporate Staff Council is made up of employees from the Law and Corporate Affairs, Finance, Human Resources, Corporate Marketing, and Advanced Strategy and Policy groups at Microsoft. Other Executive Officers include the Presidents and Vice Presidents of the various product divisions, leaders of the marketing section, and theCTO, among others.

Criticism[]

Main article:Criticism of Microsoft

Criticism of Microsoft has followed various aspects of its products and business practices. Issues with ease of use, robustness, and security of the company's software are common targets for critics. In the 2000s, a number of malware mishaps have targeted security flaws inMicrosoft Windows and other programs. Microsoft is also accused of locking vendors and consumers into their products, and of not following and complying with existing standards in its software. Total cost of ownership comparisons of Linux to Windows are a continuous point of debate.

The company has been the subject of numerous lawsuits by several governments and other companies for unlawful monopolistic practices. In 2004, the European Union found Microsoft guilty in the European Union Microsoft competition case. Additionally, EULAs for Microsoft programs are often criticized as being too restrictive.

References[]

See also[]

• Category:Microsoft products

External links[]

• Microsoft official website
  • Microsoft History (1975-1995) at Microsoft Library (archived 1996-10-17)
  • A history of Windows (1975-2015) (archived 2016-06-18)
• Microsoft official Facebook
• Microsoft official Twitter
• Microsoft official YouTube
• Microsoft at The History of Computing Project
• Microsoft at Wikipedia

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