MSFT is the stock-market ticker for Microsoft.
Microsoft’s common stock trades on the Nasdaq exchange under the four-letter symbol MSFT. A ticker is a short identifier used by exchanges, financial data services, and investors to distinguish a listed security. Microsoft’s market capitalization is calculated using its share price and shares outstanding, so its position among the world’s richest companies changes over time.
Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft in 1975. The company first became widely known for operating-system software, especially MS-DOS and Windows. It later expanded into productivity software, servers, cloud computing, gaming, search, and professional networking.
The ticker is sometimes confused with a company abbreviation or a product name. MSFT identifies Microsoft’s publicly traded common shares; it does not identify Windows, Azure, or the Microsoft brand generally. Different share classes or exchange listings can use different symbols, so the exact security matters in financial research.