Microsoft was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen and became one of the world’s most valuable firms.
Gates and Allen founded Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on April 4, 1975. The company first became known for software, including its version of the BASIC programming language, and later expanded through MS-DOS, Windows, Office, developer tools, gaming, and cloud computing.
Microsoft’s market capitalization grew substantially as investors valued its recurring software revenue and its Azure cloud platform. The company’s shift toward subscriptions and cloud services helped broaden its business beyond personal-computer software.
Microsoft is sometimes confused with the largest computer-hardware companies because it has a major technology brand and sells Surface devices and Xbox consoles. Its historical strength, however, has primarily been software and services. Microsoft’s stock trades under the symbol MSFT on the Nasdaq.