Microsoft owns the Azure cloud-computing platform and became a $3 trillion market-cap company.
Microsoft first reached a market capitalization of $3 trillion during intraday trading in January 2024. The milestone reflected investor enthusiasm for its cloud business, enterprise software, and expanding role in artificial intelligence through its partnership with OpenAI and AI features across its products.
Azure is Microsoft’s cloud platform for computing, storage, databases, analytics, networking, and other services. It competes with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Microsoft also owns major businesses including Windows, Office, LinkedIn, Xbox, and GitHub.
Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975. It became one of the world’s most valuable companies after shifting from a primarily personal-computer software business toward recurring subscriptions, cloud infrastructure, and enterprise services.