Microsoft created the Windows operating system and Azure cloud platform and became a trillion-dollar company in 2019.
Microsoft’s Windows business grew from its early licensing agreement with IBM and became central to personal computing. The company later developed Office productivity software and built a major enterprise business around servers, databases, developer tools, and cloud services.
Microsoft crossed a $1 trillion market capitalization during trading on April 25, 2019. Azure was a major part of the company’s transition toward cloud computing, competing with services from Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud.
The term “trillion-dollar company” describes market capitalization, not annual sales. Microsoft’s stock-market value can rise or fall daily, and it has passed other round-number valuation milestones at different times. The company also owns Xbox and publishes games through Xbox Game Studios.