Microsoft
The largest software company by revenue and one of the most valuable brands globally.
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Microsoft is a multinational technology company founded by childhood friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975, with Gates as CEO.[1][2] The company's name "Micro-Soft" was suggested by Allen as a shortening of micro-computer software.[1]
Key facts and history
Gates and Allen began by programming a BASIC interpreter for the Altair 8800 microcomputer, which they demonstrated successfully to MITS in March 1975.[3][1] Microsoft entered the operating system business in 1980 with Xenix, but its dominance was solidified by MS-DOS.[4] The company went public on March 13, 1986, at the NASDAQ exchange.[5] Windows 95 was released on August 24, 1995, featuring a new user interface with a start button and 32-bit compatibility.[6]
Bill Gates handed over the CEO position to Steve Ballmer on January 13, 2000.[7] Satya Nadella became CEO on February 4, 2014, succeeding Steve Ballmer.[8] In November 1980, IBM contracted Microsoft to supply a version of the CP/M OS for the IBM Personal Computer, which led Microsoft to buy 86-DOS, a CP/M clone, from Seattle Computer Products and rebrand it as MS-DOS.[9]
What the cited sources add
A BBC timeline confirms that Gates founded Micro-Soft with Paul Allen on April 4, 1975, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.[2] The same article states that in 1982, ASCII Microsoft's annual revenue was $20 million, with about half from software sales.[10] The same report states that revenue from Office 365 cloud service increased 8% in that quarter, while Surface tablet revenue rose 38%.[11] A 2016 BBC report indicates that under Satya Nadella's leadership, Microsoft's emphasis on cloud computing resulted in quarterly profits that exceeded expectations and drove its stock price to a record high.[11]
References
- Wikipedia, "Microsoft" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Allan, "A History of the Personal Computer", Allan Publishing, 2001; "Bill Gates: A Timeline", BBC News Online, July 15, 2006; Schlender, "Bill Gates & Paul Allen Talk Check Out The Ultimate Buddy Act in Business History", Fortune, October 2, 1995; Allen, "Paul Allen: Idea Man", Penguin Group, 2011, p. 91; Staples, "Kay Nishi bridges the cultural gap", Creative Computing, August 1984, p. 192; "Bill Gates: A Timeline", BBC News Online, July 15, 2006 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- "Bill Gates: A Timeline", BBC News Online, July 15, 2006. facts only, no text reused. news.bbc.co.uk
- Wikipedia, "Microsoft" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Finucane, "Harvard Square newsstand sold the magazine that started a revolution", Boston.com, December 30, 2008 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Microsoft" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Dyar, "Under The Hood: Part 8", Computer Source, November 4, 2002 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Microsoft" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Allan, "A History of the Personal Computer", Allan Publishing, 2001; "Microsoft OS/2 Announcement", April 10, 2010; "Microsoft Chronology", CBS News; Bick, "The Microsoft Millionaires Come of Age", The New York Times, May 29, 2005; Allan, "A History of the Personal Computer", Allan Publishing, 2001; "U.S. v. Microsoft: Timeline", November 4, 2002 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Microsoft" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Cope, "New And Improved", Smart Computing, March 1996; Pietrek, "Windows 95 Programming Secrets", IDG, March 1996; Thurrott, "MSN: The Inside Story", Supersite for Windows, May 19, 2005 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Microsoft" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Allan, "A History of the Personal Computer", Allan Publishing, 2001; "Bill Gates: A Timeline", BBC News Online, July 15, 2006; "Microsoft sees shares hit record high", BBC, October 21, 2016; "Notify The Next Of Kin", InformationWeek, June 30, 2010 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Microsoft" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to retire within 12 months", August 23, 2013; David, "Nadella named new Microsoft CEO as Gates era ends", NBCNews.com, February 5, 2014; Edwards, "John W. Thompson to Become 1st Black Chairman of Microsoft", The Root; "Microsoft to close its acquisition of Nokia's devices and services business on April 25", The Economic Times, April 22, 2014; Borges, "Nokia phone division to be renamed Microsoft Mobile, reveals leaked letter", dna, April 21, 2014; Hutchinson, "It's official: Microsoft acquires Mojang and Minecraft en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Microsoft" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Engines That Move Markets: Technology Investing from Railroads to the Internet and Beyond", John Wiley & Sons, 2002 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Staples, "Kay Nishi bridges the cultural gap", Creative Computing, August 1984, p. 192. facts only, no text reused. atarimagazines.com
- "Microsoft sees shares hit record high", BBC, October 21, 2016. facts only, no text reused. bbc.co.uk
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Microsoft (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Microsoft (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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