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About Microsoft

Explore a timeline of Microsoft’s journey

Building AI skills and infrastructure in the US and around the world

January 3, 2025

Microsoft has implemented initiatives on six continents to accelerate AI adoption, skilling and innovation. In FY 2025, Microsoft is on track to invest approximately $80 billion to build out AI-enabled datacenters to train AI models and deploy AI and cloud-based applications around the world.

Copilot momentum

November 19, 2024

Microsoft shared nearly 70% of the Fortune 500 now use Microsoft 365 Copilot.

Microsoft creates the first platform for reliable quantum computing

September 10, 2024

Microsoft announced it had the most reliable logical qubits on record and Azure Quantum, the first compute platform that combines, AI, HPC, and reliable quantum computing. This marks a significant step toward achieving the vision of quantum at scale.

Microsoft introduces Copilot+ PCs

May 20, 2024

The company announced a new category of Windows PCs designed for AI, Copilot+ PCs.

Microsoft pioneers the small language model category

April 23, 2024

Microsoft debuted the Phi family of AI models, which prove to be highly capable and cost-effective, outperforming other models of similar or larger sizes, demonstrating cutting-edge innovation from Microsoft in pre-training and post-training data.

Microsoft completes acquisition of Activision Blizzard

October 13, 2023

Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard, to accelerate growth in its gaming business across mobile, PC, console and cloud.

Microsoft announces Microsoft Copilot

September 21, 2023

Microsoft unveiled Copilot, your everyday AI companion available in Bing, Edge, Microsoft 365 and Windows 11.

Microsoft reinvents search with new AI-powered Bing and Edge

February 7, 2023

Microsoft introduced a new paradigm for search, with an AI-powered Copilot for the Web.

GitHub Copilot becomes generally available

June 21, 2022

GitHub Copilot became the first hit product of the generative AI age, empowering developers to write code more efficiently and faster.

Microsoft completes acquisition of Nuance

March 4, 2022

Microsoft acquired Nuance, a leader in conversational AI and ambient intelligence, driven by a shared vision to build outcomes-based AI.

Windows 11 announced

June 24, 2021

A new version of Windows was announced: Windows 11.

New supercomputer announced

May 19, 2020

Microsoft has built one of the top five publicly disclosed supercomputers in the world, making new infrastructure available to train extremely large AI models.

A pledge for the environment

January 16, 2020

Microsoft announced it will be carbon negative by 2030, and by 2050 will remove from the environment all the carbon it has emitted since it was founded in 1975.

Microsoft’s first diversity and inclusion report released

December 12, 2019

The annual report underscores the vital connection between Microsoft’s diversity and inclusion efforts and business outcomes, highlighting the people, perspectives, products, and partnerships that enable Microsoft to innovate inclusively.

OpenAI and Microsoft form exclusive computing partnership

July 22, 2019

The partnership was formed on a foundation of shared ideals and a drive to advance the state-of-the-art in AI with more ambition than anyone else, and to do so with responsibility, safety and trust as paramount values.

Advanced affordable housing solutions for the Puget Sound

January 16, 2019

Microsoft committed $500 million to preserve existing affordable housing, spur construction of new units and partner with nonprofits.

Microsoft acquires GitHub

June 4, 2018

Microsoft acquired GitHub, a popular code-repository service used by many developers and large companies, for $7.5 billion in stock.

Xbox Adaptive Controller unveiled

May 16, 2018

The launch of the Xbox Adaptive Controller made gaming accessible to players with disabilities worldwide.

New Redmond campus plan unveiled

November 28, 2017

Microsoft announced a major overhaul of its 500-acre campus in Redmond, Washington, that will add 17 new buildings, 6.7 million square feet of revamped work space, trails and sports fields in four “villages.”

‘Hit Refresh’ is published

November 15, 2017

Satya Nadella’s first book, “Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone,” told the CEO’s personal journey from his childhood in India to the helm of one of the world’s most well-known companies.

Xbox One X is launched

November 6, 2017

Billed as the world’s most powerful console, the Xbox One X marked Microsoft’s entry into 4K gaming and was launched with celebrations worldwide.

Cross-Atlantic cable deployed

September 21, 2017

Microsoft and several partners launched the highest-capacity subsea cable to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

Teams platform introduced

March 17, 2017

Microsoft Teams launched, quickly becoming the company’s fastest-growing app.

Microsoft buys LinkedIn

December 8, 2016

Microsoft’s $26.2-billion acquisition of LinkedIn aimed to grow the professional networking site and integrate it with Microsoft’s enterprise software, such as Office 365.

The foundation for responsible AI

July 2016

The Aether Committee, comprising researchers, engineers and policy experts, marked the first evolution of Microsoft’s cross-company program to ensure its AI systems are responsible by design.

Windows 10 arrives

July 29, 2015

Microsoft rolled out Windows 10, the successor to its desktop operating system Windows 8.1.

New company mission

June 25, 2015

The statement, “to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more”, shifted Microsoft’s mission from making the PC ubiquitous to a bigger goal: giving humanity the tools needed to make a positive impact.

Embracing open source

October 20, 2014

Satya Nadella announced several new services added to Azure, including the Cloudera Hadoop package and the CoreOS Linux distribution, a notable shift in Microsoft’s approach to Linux and open-source technologies.

Microsoft purchases ‘Minecraft’

September 15, 2014

Microsoft’s $2.5-billion purchase of “Minecraft” brought the wildly popular block-building and adventure game to new players across multiple platforms.

Bringing Office to more devices

March 27, 2014

Microsoft’s launch of Office for iPad brought apps such as Word and PowerPoint to users across devices.

Satya Nadella named CEO

February 4, 2014

Longtime Microsoft executive Satya Nadella was named CEO, succeeding Steve Ballmer to become only the third leader in the company’s 39-year history.

Outlook.com introduced

February 18, 2013

Microsoft purchased Hotmail, one of the world’s first webmail services, in 1997, replacing it with Outlook.com six years later.

Surface hits the market

October 26, 2012

The Surface hybrid tablet was the first in Microsoft’s flagship line of first-party PCs.

Employee giving tops $1 billion

October 18, 2012

When Microsoft launched its giving program in 1983, around 200 employees raised $17,000 for nonprofit organizations.

Microsoft acquires Skype

October 13, 2011

Microsoft purchased Skype for $8.5 billion, deepening the company’s longstanding focus on real-time video and voice communications, and providing new market opportunities serving Skype’s 160-plus million active users.

Office expands to the cloud

June 28, 2011

Microsoft took its flagship suite of productivity and collaboration services to the cloud with the launch of Office 365.

Bing search engine launches

June 3, 2009

Microsoft’s new search engine, Bing, was created to not only provide search results, but also empower users to gain and use knowledge from the web.

Microsoft launches Windows Azure

October 27, 2008

Microsoft made its entry into cloud computing with Windows Azure, an internet version of Windows that ran from the company’s own data centers. The service became generally available in 2010 and was later renamed Microsoft Azure.

Microsoft launches next generation Windows developer services

February 13, 2002

Visual Studio .NET revolutionized developer productivity as a free, open-source, cross-platform framework for building modern apps and powerful cloud services.

Microsoft launches Xbox

November 15, 2001

The Xbox shattered standards for processing speed and connectivity, democratized game development and created huge demand for live gaming, leading to the cloud infrastructure that today we know as Microsoft Azure.

Steve Ballmer named CEO

January 13, 2000

Steve Ballmer became Microsoft’s second CEO, succeeding Bill Gates, who hired him in 1980 as the company’s first business manager.

Microsoft announces its first research lab outside the United States

June 17, 1997

The Microsoft Research lab in Cambridge, United Kingdom, attracted world-class researchers based in Europe. Today, Microsoft Research operates 13 labs around the world.

Microsoft unveils Visual Studio 97 for developers

January 28, 1997

Visual Studio 97 was the first comprehensive set of tools for developers to build solutions, making optimal use of existing investments in hardware and software while taking advantage of the universal connectivity of the Web.

‘The Road Ahead’ published

November 21, 1995

Bill Gates’ first book, “The Road Ahead,” detailed the CEO’s vision of a personal computing revolution and information superhighway that would profoundly impact lives and industries.

Launch of Windows 95

August 24, 1995

The release of Microsoft’s much-anticipated new operating system was marked by midnight store launches and lines of customers worldwide.

Bill Gates’ Internet Tidal Wave memo predicts the potential of the World Wide Web

May 26, 1995

The memo acknowledged the Internet’s transformative power, steering Microsoft to integrate Internet services into its products and leading to ventures like Internet Explorer.

Microsoft Research is created to expand the reach of personal computing technology

September 4, 1991

34 years later, Microsoft Research continues to advance science and technology to benefit humanity.

First version of Office hits the market

June 19, 1989

Microsoft created a new category for productivity software with Office for the Macintosh.

Microsoft enters data management software landscape

April 30, 1989

A joint venture with Sybase and Ashton-Tatenow, Microsoft introduced a high-performance, multi-user relational database engine using Structured Query Language. Today, 98 of the Fortune 100 companies use SQL Server.

Microsoft goes public

March 13, 1986

Microsoft went public with a $21 offering price that increased to $35.50 before the end of the day.

Microsoft moves to Redmond

February 26, 1986

Microsoft moved its headquarters from Bellevue, Washington, to a 30-acre lot in nearby Redmond with six buildings and a pond that came to be called “Lake Bill,” after Bill Gates.

First version of Windows released

November 20, 1985

Bill Gates announced Microsoft Windows, a graphical user interface for its MS-DOS operating system that he described as “unique software designed for the serious PC user.”

MS-DOS arrives on IBM PCs

August 12, 1981

Marking Microsoft’s entry into the operating systems business, IBM introduced its PC, MS-DOS version 1.0, plus BASIC, COBOL, Pascal and other Microsoft products. These became the new standard for the industry.

First international sales office

November 1, 1978

Located in Japan, ASCII Microsoft was an early step in establishing Microsoft’s global footprint.

Microsoft is born

1975

Inspired by the January cover of Popular Electronics magazine, friends Bill Gates and Paul Allen started Microsoft – sometimes Micro-Soft, for microprocessors and software – to develop software for the Altair 8800, an early personal computer.