Microsoft owns the Azure cloud-computing platform and trades under the ticker MSFT.
Azure is Microsoft’s cloud-computing service, providing computing power, storage, databases, networking, analytics, and artificial-intelligence tools. It competes with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud and has become a major contributor to Microsoft’s enterprise business.
Microsoft’s stock trades on the Nasdaq under MSFT. The company’s market capitalization has grown as investors have valued its recurring software subscriptions, cloud infrastructure, enterprise relationships, and AI partnerships. Azure was announced in 2008 as Windows Azure and became generally available in 2010; it was renamed Microsoft Azure in 2014. Azure is therefore not a separate publicly traded company, but a major business segment inside Microsoft.