Microsoft’s shares began trading publicly on March 13, 1986, in an initial public offering during Bill Gates’s leadership.
The IPO transformed Microsoft from a rapidly growing software company into a publicly traded corporation. The offering priced shares at $21 each, and the stock’s strong performance helped make Gates a billionaire soon afterward.
Microsoft had already achieved major success by selling operating systems and applications for personal computers. Its agreement to supply MS-DOS for IBM’s PC, introduced in 1981, had helped establish the company as a major industry player. The IPO provided capital while allowing early investors and employees to hold publicly traded shares.
The IPO date is distinct from Microsoft’s founding date in 1975 and from the release dates of Windows products. Microsoft later became one of the world’s most valuable technology companies, but its public-market history began with this 1986 offering.