Microsoft operates Windows, Azure, and the Xbox brand and is commonly ranked among the world's most valuable companies by market capitalization.
Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft in 1975 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The company first became famous for software, especially the MS-DOS operating system used by IBM-compatible personal computers and later the Windows graphical operating system.
Microsoft expanded into enterprise software, cloud computing, gaming, search, hardware, and professional networking. Azure became a major cloud-computing platform, while Xbox gave Microsoft a global console and game-publishing business.
Market capitalization changes daily with the share price, so rankings can move between Microsoft and other technology companies. Market cap also differs from revenue, profit, and total assets; it means the value investors assign to a company's publicly traded equity.