Microsoft, founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, became a market-cap rival to Apple.
Gates and Allen established Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on April 4, 1975. The company first became widely known for software, including the MS-DOS operating system and Microsoft Windows. It later built major businesses in productivity software, cloud computing, gaming, and enterprise services.
Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, Office products, Windows licensing, and ownership of Xbox and LinkedIn give it several large sources of revenue. Its transition from a primarily personal-computer software company to a broad cloud and services business helped renew investor interest.
Microsoft and Apple have repeatedly exchanged positions among the world’s most valuable publicly traded companies. Their market caps are not fixed rankings: share prices, exchange rates, earnings expectations, and changes in outstanding shares can all affect the order.