Microsoft

Microsoft builds cloud infrastructure, productivity software, operating systems, and developer tools for businesses and individuals. Microsoft 365 combines applications, cloud storage, security, and Copilot, while Microsoft 365 Copilot helps people turn work data into insights within familiar apps. Azure offers cloud services and databases for modern workloads. Teams supports meetings, chat, and shared work; Visual Studio provides a development environment for professional programmers. Windows and Surface extend the portfolio to personal computing, while Xbox serves gaming audiences.

Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft in 1975. Satya Nadella, appointed CEO in 2014, is its chairman and chief executive officer. Beyond commercial software, Microsoft’s research contributions include residual learning for image recognition: training neural-network layers to learn residual functions relative to their inputs made substantially deeper networks easier to optimize. Its 2016 publication evaluated networks up to 152 layers deep, demonstrating how greater depth could improve recognition accuracy.

For fiscal 2026, ended June 30, Microsoft reported $331.8 billion in revenue, up 18% from the previous year. Azure annual revenue exceeded $100 billion, and Microsoft 365 Copilot reached more than 30 million paid seats.