Microsoft owns Windows and Azure, two businesses that helped make it one of 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 widely known for software such as MS-DOS and Windows, then expanded into productivity software, servers, gaming, search, and cloud computing.
Azure is Microsoft's cloud-computing platform and competes with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Microsoft also owns the Office software family, Xbox, LinkedIn, and GitHub. A common mix-up is treating Windows as Microsoft's whole business; cloud services, business software, and gaming are also major parts of the company.