Explore a timeline of Microsoft’s journey
Digital skills for 25 million people
June 30, 2020
Microsoft committed to helping 25 million people worldwide acquire the new digital skills needed in a COVID-19 economy.
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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.
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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.
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Partnership to help farmers grow food
October 7, 2019
Microsoft and the USDA partnered to harness data and AI to help farmers cut costs, increase yields and grow crops more resilient to climate change.
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Satya Nadella marks 5 years as CEO
February 4, 2019
The first five years of CEO Satya Nadella’s tenure were a period of transformation and growth for the company.
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Azure continues to rise
June 27, 2018
Microsoft announced 54 Azure regions in fiscal year 2018, more than any other cloud provider, with services available in 140 countries worldwide.
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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.
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Underwater data center deployed
June 1, 2018
Microsoft deployed a data center with 864 servers near Scotland’s Orkney islands, marking the second phase of its Project Natick initiative.
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Xbox Adaptive Controller unveiled
May 16, 2018
The launch of the Xbox Adaptive Controller made gaming accessible to players with disabilities worldwide.
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Silicon Valley office redesigned
December 5, 2017
Microsoft embarked on a makeover of its 32-acre Silicon Valley campus with a vision of greater sustainability.
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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.”
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‘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.
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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.
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Cross-Atlantic cable deployed
September 21, 2017
Microsoft and several partners launched the highest-capacity subsea cable to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
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Rural internet project announced
July 10, 2017
Microsoft launches initiative to provide high-speed internet connections to millions of Americans living in rural areas.
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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.
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Microsoft expands AI investment
September 29, 2016
Microsoft Research AI was formed, bringing together researchers and more than 5,000 computer scientists and engineers to expand the company’s artificial intelligence efforts.
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Windows 10 arrives
July 29, 2015
Microsoft rolled out Windows 10, the successor to its desktop operating system Windows 8.1.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Xbox One launches
November 22, 2013
The successor to the Xbox 360, Xbox One was the third home gaming console in the Xbox family.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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. Soon after, Ballmer helped land a major deal with IBM to provide the operating system for its computers.
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‘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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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First version of Windows announced
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.”
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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.
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