Microsoft Corporation
Company History
Microsoft History: Founding, Growth & Key Milestones
Founded 1975 in Albuquerque, United States
When was Microsoft founded?
Microsoft was founded in 1975 in Albuquerque, United States by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, making it 51 years old.
- Founded
- 1975
- Founding place
- Albuquerque, United States
- Founders
- Bill Gates and Paul Allen
- Headquarters today
- Redmond, Washington, United States
- Milestones documented
- 13 (1975–2023)
- Current CEO
- Satya Nadella
- Acquisitions
- 9
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1975 | Microsoft Founded |
| 1981 | MS-DOS Ships With IBM PC |
| 1985 | Windows Launch |
| 1986 | Microsoft IPO |
| 1990 | Office Suite Release |
| 1995 | Windows 95 Released |
| 1998 | U.S. Antitrust Case |
| 2010 | Azure Commercial Launch |
| 2014 | Satya Nadella CEO |
| 2016 | LinkedIn Acquisition |
| 2018 | GitHub Acquisition |
| 2023 | AI Leadership |
| 2023 | Activision Blizzard Acquisition Closes |
- Where was Microsoft founded?
- Microsoft was founded in Albuquerque, United States in 1975. news.microsoft.com
- Who founded Microsoft?
- Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen.
- When did Microsoft start?
- Microsoft was founded in 1975.
- How old is Microsoft?
- Microsoft is 51 years old as of 2026.
Founding Story
In 1980 IBM needed an operating system for its upcoming personal computer and turned to Microsoft, then a small company best known for Altair BASIC. Microsoft licensed 86-DOS (QDOS) from Seattle Computer Products, later buying it outright, adapted it into MS-DOS, and licensed it to IBM. Microsoft kept the right to license MS-DOS to other PC makers, so as IBM-compatible clones spread, nearly all of them shipped Microsoft software. That licensing structure became the base of the Windows and Office business.
Founders
Bill Gates
Microsoft was founded in 1975 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, childhood friends from Seattle who had spent their teenage years finding ways to get free time on mainframe computers. In January 1975 Allen saw the Altair 8800, an early microcomputer, on the cover of Popular Electronics and showed it to Gates. The machine had no programming language, so the two wrote a version of BASIC for it in a few weeks. They worked on an emulator and had never touched an actual Altair. They founded 'Micro-Soft' to sell the software. The decisive deal came in 1980, when IBM needed an operating system for its new Personal Computer. Gates bought an existing system, QDOS, for $50,000, adapted it into MS-DOS and licensed it to IBM. Microsoft kept the right to license MS-DOS to other computer makers, and that right became the basis of its dominance in PC software. Bill Gates was born in 1955.
Paul Allen
Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft and was crucial to its earliest technical and strategic decisions. He helped develop Altair BASIC, gave the company its original name, and participated in the operating-system opportunity that led to MS-DOS. Allen left active management in the early 1980s after being diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, though he remained a major shareholder for many years. After Microsoft, he became an investor, philanthropist, sports-team owner, and backer of science, space, music, artificial intelligence, and cultural institutions through Vulcan Inc. His lasting influence on Microsoft is easy to understate because he exited daily operations early, but the company might not have existed without his ability to see the Altair as a commercial signal rather than a hobbyist curiosity. Allen represented the imaginative technical side of Microsoft's founding: the belief that small computers would become general-purpose tools if software could make them useful. Paul Allen was born in 1953. Education: Harvard University.
Key Milestones
Microsoft Founded
Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft after recognizing that the Altair 8800 needed usable programming software. Their first product, Altair BASIC, turned a hobbyist computer kit into a programmable platform. The milestone mattered because it treated software as a stand-alone commercial product at a time when hardware makers often treated programs as secondary. That idea became the foundation for Microsoft's licensing power.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgMS-DOS Ships With IBM PC
IBM introduced its personal computer with MS-DOS 1.0 and other Microsoft products. The milestone mattered because Microsoft's operating-system work moved from a small software supplier's project into the emerging corporate PC standard. As IBM-compatible machines spread, Microsoft earned from the ecosystem rather than from one machine.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWindows Launch
The release of Windows 1.0 began Microsoft's long move from command-line operating systems to graphical personal computing. The first version was not an instant blockbuster, but it gave Microsoft a user-interface path that could evolve with PC hardware. Later versions turned Windows into the standard environment for business applications and consumer PCs. The consequence was decades of operating-system influence.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgOffice Suite Release
The bundling of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint into Microsoft Office created a productivity suite that became central to business work. The bundle simplified enterprise purchasing and made file compatibility a competitive weapon. Office also reinforced Windows because corporate customers wanted the operating system that best supported their daily applications. The suite later became the basis for Microsoft 365's subscription economics.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgU.S. Antitrust Case
The U.S. Department of Justice accused Microsoft of using Windows power to suppress browser competition. The case mattered because it placed Microsoft's platform tactics under public and legal scrutiny at the height of its PC strong position. Microsoft avoided a breakup but accepted restrictions and a lasting reputational cost. The consequence was a more cautious company in some areas and a regulatory template for later Big Tech cases.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAzure Commercial Launch
Azure gave Microsoft a way to compete in cloud infrastructure as enterprise customers began shifting workloads away from company-owned servers. The platform started behind AWS but had a natural base among companies already using Windows Server, SQL Server, Active Directory, and Office. Azure changed Microsoft from a software-license company into a cloud-capacity provider. Its later role in AI made the launch even more consequential.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgSatya Nadella CEO
Satya Nadella became CEO and moved Microsoft away from a strategy that forced every product to serve Windows. He prioritized Azure, Microsoft 365, open source, Linux support, cross-platform software, and a more collaborative developer posture. That shift helped Microsoft recover from mobile failure and become more relevant to modern enterprise IT. The measurable consequence was a major expansion in revenue, profit, and valuation over the next decade.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgLinkedIn Acquisition
Microsoft agreed to acquire LinkedIn in 2016 for $26.2 billion in cash. The deal mattered because it added a professional identity network to a company already strong in Office, Dynamics, cloud services, recruiting tools, advertising, and enterprise sales. LinkedIn also gave Microsoft a daily business audience outside Windows and traditional productivity software. The outcome should be judged by capability, distribution, and data value rather than headline size alone.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgGitHub Acquisition
Microsoft acquired GitHub for $7.5 billion in stock, reversing years of developer skepticism toward the company. The acquisition placed Microsoft inside the daily workflow of software developers across languages, clouds, and operating systems. GitHub later became even more important through GitHub Copilot, Actions, Codespaces, and enterprise subscriptions. The consequence was a stronger bridge between developers, Azure, open source, and AI coding tools.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAI Leadership
Microsoft's expanded OpenAI partnership and Copilot product rollout placed the company at the center of enterprise generative AI adoption. The strategy mattered because Microsoft could attach AI to Microsoft 365, Azure, GitHub, Security, Dynamics, Windows, and Bing rather than sell it only as a separate application. The consequence is a new growth cycle paired with far higher infrastructure spending.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgActivision Blizzard Acquisition Closes
Microsoft completed the Activision Blizzard acquisition after intense regulatory review. The deal added Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Candy Crush, and other franchises to Microsoft Gaming. It changed Microsoft's gaming scale across console, PC, mobile, and subscription distribution. The consequence is a larger content business, but also greater scrutiny over gaming platforms and cloud access.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgMajor Acquisitions
Microsoft acquired LinkedIn to integrate professional networking data into its enterprise ecosystem. The goal was to enhance customer relationship management, recruitment tools, professional advertising, and sales intelligence. It also gave Microsoft a major professional identity graph outside Windows and Office.
GitHub
2018Microsoft acquired GitHub to rebuild trust with developers, strengthen its open-source posture, and place itself closer to the software development workflow. The acquisition also created a natural bridge between code repositories, developer tools, GitHub Enterprise, GitHub Actions, Copilot, and Azure.
Nuance Communications
2022Microsoft acquired Nuance to deepen its position in healthcare AI, speech recognition, clinical documentation, and conversational intelligence. The deal gave Microsoft specialized industry software that could run on Azure and support healthcare workflows.
ZeniMax Media
2021Microsoft acquired ZeniMax Media, parent of Bethesda Softworks, to expand its first-party gaming portfolio. The deal added franchises such as The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, and other content that could strengthen Xbox and Game Pass.
Activision Blizzard
2023Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard to gain major gaming franchises, mobile exposure through King, and a larger content base for Xbox, PC, Game Pass, and cloud gaming. The strategic logic was to reduce dependence on console cycles and strengthen Microsoft's position in interactive entertainment.
Skype Technologies
2011Microsoft Corporation acquired Skype Technologies in 2011.
TakeLessons
2021Microsoft Corporation acquired TakeLessons in 2021.
Clipchamp
2021Microsoft Corporation acquired Clipchamp in 2021.
Mojang Studios
2014Microsoft Corporation acquired Mojang Studios in 2014.
Keep researching Microsoft
Microsoft Company History FAQ
What are the major historical eras in Microsoft Corporation's history since 1975?
Microsoft's history spans key eras: the Albuquerque Altair and MS-DOS Founding Era (1975 to 1984), the Windows GUI and Office Desktop Monopoly Era (1985 to 1999 under Gates), the Ballmer Enterprise and Consumer Struggles Era (2000 to 2013), the Nadella Cloud Transformation Renaissance (2014 to 2022), and the Generative AI and Trillion-Dollar Frontier Era (2023, present).
How did the 1985 launch of Windows 1.0 establish graphical computing?
In November 1985, Microsoft released Windows 1.0, an extension for MS-DOS that introduced graphical user interface (GUI) windows, drop-down menus, and mouse navigation. Windows evolved through Windows 3.0 (1990) and the blockbuster Windows 95 into the world's dominant personal computing operating system.
What was the historic launch of Windows 95 and its global cultural phenomenon?
On August 24, 1995, Microsoft launched Windows 95 with an unprecedented $300 million global marketing campaign featuring the Rolling Stones' 'Start Me Up' and the well-known Start button and taskbar. Selling 1 million copies in its first four days, Windows 95 integrated built-in internet networking and cemented Microsoft's global dominance.
What was the landmark United States v. Microsoft antitrust trial of 1998 to 2001?
In 1998, the US Department of Justice and 20 states sued Microsoft, alleging illegal monopoly maintenance by bundling its Internet Explorer web browser with Windows to crush Netscape Navigator. A federal judge initially ordered Microsoft broken into two companies; however, Microsoft settled in 2001, agreeing to share APIs with third-party developers.
When did Microsoft launch the original Xbox console in 2001?
On November 15, 2001, Microsoft launched the original Xbox video game console in North America, entering the video game hardware market against Sony PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube. Powered by flagship first-person shooter Halo: Combat Evolved, the Xbox established Xbox Live and transformed online console gaming.
How did Satya Nadella's 2014 'Microsoft Loves Linux' declaration signal a cultural revolution?
In October 2014, CEO Satya Nadella publicly proclaimed 'Microsoft Loves Linux,' reversing former CEO Steve Ballmer's 2001 statement that 'Linux is a cancer.' Microsoft integrated Linux into Azure, open-sourced the .NET runtime, built the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), and became the world's largest corporate contributor to open-source software on GitHub.
How did Microsoft surpass a $3.0 trillion market capitalization in 2024?
In January 2024, driven by record Azure cloud growth, the rapid enterprise rollout of Microsoft 365 Copilot, and its leadership in generative AI through OpenAI, Microsoft surpassed a $3.0 trillion market capitalization, cementing its status as the world's premier enterprise technology leader.
What was Microsoft's 50th anniversary milestone celebration approaching in 2025?
Approaching its 50th anniversary in 2025, Microsoft celebrated its half-century evolution: having grown from two teenage programmers in Albuquerque into a $3+ trillion global institution powering the global economy, scientific research, cloud infrastructure, and frontier artificial intelligence.
How did Microsoft secure the historic IBM PC contract in 1980?
In 1980, IBM approached Microsoft for an operating system for its upcoming Personal Computer. Bill Gates and Paul Allen did not have one, so they purchased 86-DOS (QDOS) from Seattle Computer Products for approximately $50,000, adapted it into MS-DOS, and licensed it to IBM. Crucially, Gates insisted on a non-exclusive license without transferring copyright, allowing Microsoft to license MS-DOS to every PC clone maker, establishing an unbreakable software monopoly.
What was the outcome of the landmark 1998 US antitrust case against Microsoft?
In 1998, the US Department of Justice and 20 states sued Microsoft for anti-competitive practices, specifically bundling Internet Explorer with Windows to crush Netscape Navigator. While a federal judge initially ordered Microsoft broken up into two separate companies in 2000, Microsoft settled on appeal in 2001, agreeing to share third-party APIs and refrain from retaliatory contract agreements, permanently reshaping tech antitrust scrutiny.
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