Microsoft owns the Azure cloud platform and passed a $3 trillion market value in January 2024.
Microsoft briefly reached a $3 trillion market capitalization during trading on January 24, 2024. Azure was a major part of the company's expansion beyond Windows and traditional desktop software. It provides computing, storage, databases, networking, analytics, and artificial-intelligence services to organizations and developers.
Microsoft launched Windows Azure in 2010; the service was later renamed Microsoft Azure. Its growth placed Microsoft in direct competition with other large cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Cloud revenue is only one part of Microsoft's broader business, which also includes Office, gaming, search, and enterprise software.
The $3 trillion figure is a market valuation, not an accounting measure of Azure's worth. Share prices fluctuate, meaning Microsoft can move above or below the threshold without any change to the company's legal ownership of Azure.