⚡What does Microsoft do, in 30 seconds?
Microsoft sells work software, cloud services, Windows, devices and games 1 1 1. It sold $331.8bn ✓ in FY2026, the year to 30 June 2026. Its Intelligent Cloud arm, led by Azure, brought in $137.8bn ✓, or 42% ✓ of sales. That put it just behind its Office and LinkedIn arm, at $140.0bn ✓.
📱What does Microsoft sell?
Microsoft reported three business segments in FY2026 1 1 1. Here is what each one holds and who buys it.
Productivity & Business
Microsoft 365, which includes the Office apps, Teams, email and Copilot, plus LinkedIn and the Dynamics business apps 1. It brought in $140.0bn ✓ in FY2026, the most of the three. Microsoft 365 business cloud sales grew 17% that year, as Copilot and E5 lifted sales per user 3.
👥 Businesses and public bodies that pay per user, plus home Microsoft 365 subscribers 1 1 1. LinkedIn earns from hiring tools, ads and paid memberships 1.
Intelligent Cloud
Azure, which rents out computing power, storage and AI tools in Microsoft's datacenters, plus GitHub and server software such as SQL Server 1 1. It brought in $137.8bn ✓ in FY2026. Azure and other cloud services grew 41% that year 3.
👥 Azure customers, who pay mainly for how much they use 1.
How the mix has shifted
Where the customers are
Just over half of Microsoft's sales come from the United States, at 51% ✓ in FY2026. All other countries together added 49% ✓.
💸How does Microsoft make money?
Follow the money from left to rightfrom top to bottom: what customers pay for, what it costs to make, and what is left as profit.
Microsoft sold $331.8bn ✓ of software, cloud services and devices in FY2026. Delivering them cost $106.4bn ✓. What is left is gross profit, the money kept after paying for what was sold. That came to $225.5bn ✓.
Next come the costs of running the company. Research and development took $35.6bn ✓, and sales, marketing and admin took $34.7bn ✓. What remains is operating profit, the profit from the main business, which was $155.2bn ✓. Other income added $10.7bn ✓. After tax of $32.2bn ✓, net income was $133.7bn ✓. That included $5.0bn of net gains on Microsoft's stake in OpenAI 31. Put simply, out of every hundred dollars of sales, Microsoft kept about $40 ✓ as profit.
Out of every $100 customers paid in FY2026…
Interest, investment gains and other income added +$3 for every $100 of sales, so the slices above add up to a little more than $100.
⏱️ Microsoft by the clock
Spread the FY2026 totals evenly over its 365 days and you get this. Source: Microsoft Corporation 10-K [4].
📈How is Microsoft doing?
Microsoft has grown fast and steadily for a decade. From FY2016 to FY2026, sales grew 13.8% ✓ a year on average. Sales grew in every one of the 10 ✓ years since FY2016. Microsoft also kept more of each sale, as operating margin rose from 28.6% ✓ to 46.8% ✓. So almost half of sales became operating profit in FY2026.
Growth has sped up lately. Sales rose 17.8% ✓ in FY2026, and Azure and other cloud services grew 41% 3. In the quarter to 30 September 2026, Microsoft Cloud revenue rose 30% to $63.9bn, and Azure grew 48% 30. The catch is the cost of building datacenters. Capital spending jumped to $115.9bn ✓ in FY2026, from $44.5bn ✓ in FY2024. Free cash flow fell to $67.0bn ✓, from $71.6bn ✓ in FY2025, even though profit rose.
📝 The report card
Microsoft earns top marks for growth, profit, cash and steadiness, and a good mark for its balance sheet. Every company is graded on the same fixed scale, so an A means the same thing on every page. The strip shows where Microsoft (orange) and its 6 peers land; further right is better.
Growth
Microsoft's sales grew 16.1% ✓ a year over its last three fiscal years, which earns an A ✓ on the fixed scale. Only Meta grew faster over its own last three fiscal years, at 19.9% ✓, also an A ✓.
Why this measure? (higher is better)
Growing sales is the engine of a business. Mature giants rarely grow fast, so 5% a year already earns a C.
Profitability
Over the last three years combined, Microsoft kept 45.8% ✓ of sales as operating profit, an A ✓ and the best of the seven companies compared. Meta came next at 39.9% ✓.
Why this measure? (higher is better)
Operating margin is the share of each sales dollar left after running the business. Software and platforms often clear 30%; hardware makers usually sit below 10%.
Cash generation
Over the last three years combined, Microsoft turned 24.8% ✓ of sales into free cash flow, which is an A ✓. But the figure was only 20.2% ✓ in FY2026, as datacenter spending climbed. Salesforce did best in the group at 31.8% ✓.
Why this measure? (higher is better)
Free cash flow is the cash left after paying for factories, data centres and equipment. It funds dividends, buybacks and new bets.
Balance sheet
At the end of FY2026, Microsoft's cash and investments minus its borrowings equalled 11.0% ✓ of a year's sales, a B ✓. This measure leaves out leases and stakes in other companies. Microsoft held $76.8bn ✓ of cash and investments against $40.3bn ✓ of borrowings. Oracle owes far more than it holds, which earns an F ✓ at -145.8% ✓.
Why this measure? (higher is better)
More cash than debt gives a company room to ride out bad years. Some debt is normal; a lot of it makes a company fragile.
Steadiness
Microsoft's yearly growth barely swings, with a standard deviation of just 4.2% ✓, an A ✓ and the steadiest of the seven. Its slowest year in the decade still saw growth of 5.9% ✓, in FY2017.
Why this measure? (lower is better)
Steady growers are easier to plan around. Big swings mean sales depend on product cycles, the economy or one-off events.
🧑🏫 How the grades work
- Same scale for everyone. Each measure has fixed cut-offs (shown under each strip). Clear the A line and you get an A, whatever your peers do.
- Three years together. Profitability and cash generation add up the last three fiscal years before dividing, so one unusual year counts for less than it would on its own (a year much bigger than the others still weighs most).
- Peers for context. The rank shows how Microsoft compares with the group. Companies within 0.1 percentage point share a rank.
- Same source. Every company's figures come from its own latest annual report (10-K), so fiscal years end in different months.
- Judgement, openly stated. The cut-offs are QuantVantage.ai's view of what good looks like for a large, established company. They are not a forecast or a recommendation.
11 years at a glance
Where the cash goes
Microsoft hands back most of its spare cash to shareholders. Over the 11 fiscal years from FY2016 to FY2026, it spent $412.5bn ✓ on dividends and buybacks. Free cash flow over the same years was $565.5bn ✓. Big purchases in those years included LinkedIn for $27.0bn and Activision Blizzard for $75.4bn 404131. In FY2026, payouts equalled 73% ✓ of free cash flow.
🧮Ratios 101: what are Microsoft's key financial ratios?
Ratios shrink Microsoft's giant numbers into easy comparisons, and most show a rich business that borrows little and is now spending heavily on datacenters. A ratio divides one number by another so companies of any size can be compared. Each card shows the formula with Microsoft's real FY2026 numbers, the peer median and the trend.
💰 Profitability: how much of each sale is kept?
Gross margin
What is left from each sale after paying to make the product or deliver the service.
👉 At 67.9% ✓, up from 64.0% ✓ in FY2016, Microsoft beats the 62.7% ✓ peer median.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 40% usually signals pricing power or a big software or services mix.
Operating margin
What is left after also paying for research, marketing and running the company.
👉 Microsoft's 46.8% ✓ is far above the 31.3% ✓ peer median and its own 28.6% ✓ of FY2016.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 20% is strong for a large company.
Net margin
The bottom line: profit after interest and taxes, per dollar of sales.
👉 Microsoft kept 40.3% ✓ of sales as final profit, up from 22.5% ✓ in FY2016 and above the 26.1% ✓ peer median. FY2026 profit included $5.0bn of net gains on its OpenAI stake 31.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 15% is strong; one-off tax items can move it in a single year.
Return on equity (ROE)
Profit earned for each dollar that shareholders have left in the company.
👉 ROE of 30.2% ✓ is close to the 29.8% ✓ peer median and up from 24.7% ✓ in FY2016. Shareholders' equity is large, at $442.4bn ✓, so this return does not come from a thin equity base.
📏 Rule of thumb: Around 15% or more is good, but buybacks shrink equity and can make ROE look huge.
⚙️ Efficiency: how hard do the assets work?
Return on assets (ROA)
Profit earned from everything the company owns, however it was paid for.
👉 ROA of 17.6% ✓, up from 10.6% ✓ in FY2016, beats the 13.0% ✓ peer median.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 10% is strong; banks and factories usually earn less.
Asset turnover
Dollars of sales squeezed out of each dollar of assets.
👉 Microsoft's sales are 0.4x ✓ the value of everything it owns, below 0.5x ✓ in FY2016 and the 0.6x ✓ peer median.
📏 Rule of thumb: Retailers often top 2x; asset-heavy businesses can sit below 0.5x.
Inventory days
How many days of products sit in warehouses before they are sold.
👉 Microsoft holds just 5 ✓ days of stock, down from 25 ✓ in FY2016. The peer median is 24 ✓ days.
📏 Rule of thumb: Fewer days means less cash tied up and less risk of products going stale.
🛟 Safety: could it survive a bad year?
Current ratio
Can short-term assets (cash, money owed by customers, stock) pay the bills due within a year?
👉 At 1.2x ✓, short-term assets cover the bills due within a year, though the ratio is down from 2.4x ✓ in FY2016. The peer median is 1.1x ✓.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 1.0x is the classic comfort line, but cash-rich giants can run below it on purpose.
Debt to equity
How much the company has borrowed for each dollar shareholders have in it.
👉 Debt is just 0.1x ✓ shareholders' equity, down from 0.6x ✓ in FY2016 and below the 0.3x ✓ peer median.
📏 Rule of thumb: Below 1.0x is conservative. Like ROE, it can rise when buybacks shrink equity, even if debt has not changed.
Interest cover
How many times over operating profit could pay the year's interest bill.
👉 Operating profit could pay the year's interest bill 50.9x ✓ over, up from 21.0x ✓ in FY2016 and above the 35.2x ✓ peer median.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 5x is comfortable; below 2x is a warning sign.
💵 Cash and owners: where does the money end up?
Cash conversion
Does reported profit turn into real cash? Free cash flow is operating cash minus capital spending.
👉 Microsoft turned profit into free cash at only 0.5x ✓, down from 1.2x ✓ in FY2016 and below the 0.7x ✓ peer median. Capital spending reached $115.9bn ✓ in FY2026.
📏 Rule of thumb: Near or above 1.0x means profits are backed by cash.
R&D intensity
How much of each sales dollar goes into inventing future products.
👉 R&D took 10.7% ✓ of sales, down from 13.2% ✓ in FY2016 and below the 15.2% ✓ peer median. In dollars, though, R&D grew from $12.0bn ✓ to $35.6bn ✓.
📏 Rule of thumb: Tech companies often spend 10% to 20%; more is not always better if it does not pay off.
Stock pay
Pay given to staff in shares instead of cash. It is a real cost to owners because it adds shares.
👉 Stock pay is 3.7% ✓ of sales, up from 2.9% ✓ in FY2016 but well below the 6.7% ✓ peer median.
📏 Rule of thumb: Under 5% of sales is modest for a tech company.
Shareholder payout
How much of the year's profit was handed back to owners.
👉 Microsoft returned 36.4% ✓ of FY2026 profit, below the 47.2% ✓ peer median and far below 131.3% ✓ in FY2016.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 100% means it returned more than it earned, using cash savings or debt.
Ratios use fiscal-year-end balance sheet values. Inputs are shown rounded, so dividing them can differ from the result in the last digit. A peer median leaves out peers that do not report the inputs, or where the ratio means nothing (for example, negative shareholders' equity). Rules of thumb are general guides from QuantVantage.ai, not hard limits. No share-price ratios (like price-to-earnings) are shown on this page.
🥊Who are Microsoft's competitors?
Microsoft sells cloud services, work software, search ads, Windows and games 1 1 1. That puts it up against most big tech companies. Amazon and Alphabet both rent cloud computing against Azure 1112 110. A UK regulator called Microsoft and Amazon Web Services the two largest cloud providers in the UK in July 2025 27. Oracle names Microsoft as a direct rival 1516. Salesforce's Slack competes with Microsoft Teams for work chat 171819.
| Company | Where they compete | Revenue | Growth/yr (3y) | Op. margin | FCF margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft (MSFT, FY2026) | Cloud, work software, Windows, search ads and games | $331.8bn | 16.1% | 46.8% | 20.2% |
| Apple (AAPL, FY2025) | Windows PCs and Surface against Mac and iPad 19 | $416.2bn | 1.8% | 32.0% | 23.7% |
| Alphabet (GOOGL, FY2025) | Google Cloud against Azure, Workspace against Microsoft 365, and Google Search against Bing 110 | $402.8bn | 12.5% | 32.0% | 18.2% |
| Amazon (AMZN, FY2025) | Cloud computing: AWS against Azure 1112 | $716.9bn | 11.7% | 11.2% | 1.1% |
| Meta Platforms (META, FY2025) | Online ads and AI assistants 1314 | $201.0bn | 19.9% | 41.4% | 22.9% |
| Oracle (ORCL, FY2026) | Cloud computing, where Oracle names Microsoft as a direct rival but also runs its databases inside Microsoft's cloud 1516 | $67.4bn | 10.5% | 30.6% | -35.2% |
| Salesforce (CRM, FY2026) | Work chat, Slack against Teams, and sales software, Salesforce against Dynamics 365 171819 | $41.5bn | 9.8% | 20.1% | 34.7% |
Oracle lists SAP, IBM and Adobe alongside Microsoft among its direct rivals 15. Microsoft also partners with AI model maker Anthropic: in November 2025 it said it would invest up to $5bn in Anthropic, which committed to buy $30bn of Azure capacity 33.
🧭Microsoft SWOT: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
💪 Strengths
- At 30 September 2026, customers had signed contracts worth $677bn for future commercial services, up 73% in a year 30.
- Microsoft Cloud sales grew 27% to $214.4bn in FY2026 3, and rose 30% in the quarter to 30 September 2026 30.
- Over the last three years combined, Microsoft kept 45.8% ✓ of sales as operating profit, the best of the seven companies compared.
- Sales grew in every one of the 10 ✓ years since FY2016.
🩹 Weaknesses
- Gaming shrank in FY2026: Xbox hardware sales fell 29% and Xbox content and services fell 5% 3.
- Services keep less of each dollar than before, with a gross margin of 64.7% ✓ in FY2026, down from 67.4% ✓ in FY2024.
- One partner brings in a large sum: deals with OpenAI produced $24.1bn of revenue in FY2026 31.
- Windows and devices sales fell 22% in the quarter to 30 September 2026, after a Windows 10 boost the year before, stock cuts by PC makers and weaker PC demand 24.
🚀 Opportunities
- Copilot AI and the premium E5 and E7 suites raised sales per Microsoft 365 business user in the quarter to 30 September 2026 24.
- OpenAI agreed in October 2025 to buy an extra $250bn of Azure services 32.
- Anthropic committed to buy $30bn of Azure capacity, and its Claude models came to Microsoft's AI tools 33.
- Microsoft added 88 datacenters in FY2026 and says it is on track to roughly double its capacity in two years 23.
⚠️ Threats
- The UK competition regulator is probing Microsoft's business software 34. It aims to decide by February 2027 whether Microsoft has strategic market status 34.
- OpenAI can now serve its products on any cloud, and Microsoft's licence to its technology is no longer exclusive 28.
- The US tax agency is seeking $28.9bn plus penalties and interest, which Microsoft disputes 31.
- Datacenters depend on land, power and some parts that only a few suppliers can make 1.
🏰Does Microsoft have a moat?
Why 4?
At 30 June 2026, customers had signed $678bn of future commercial contracts, lasting about 2.3 years on average 3. Microsoft says people who switch platforms may face costs to move data and buy new apps 24. But the EU made Microsoft sell suites without Teams and let customers export Teams data 25.
A moat is what keeps rivals from taking a company's customers and profits. Scores are QuantVantage.ai's judgement (5 = strongest), set with the same rubric on every explainer (orange is Microsoft; grey dots are peers).
🔭What should you watch next?
Microsoft Ignite conference
Ignite is Microsoft's main yearly conference for business customers and developers, held this year in San Francisco 42.
UK decision on Microsoft's business software
The UK competition regulator opened an investigation on 14 May 2026 into Microsoft's productivity software, PC and server operating systems, databases and security software 34. It aims to decide by February 2027 whether Microsoft has strategic market status 34.
Tax dispute with the IRS
The IRS seeks $28.9bn plus penalties and interest for the years 2004 to 2013, and Microsoft says it will contest this 31.
New datacenter leases starting
Microsoft had $364.6bn of leases, mainly for datacenters, signed but not yet started at 30 September 2026 24.
📚Learn the words
❓Frequently asked questions about Microsoft
How does Microsoft make money?
Microsoft makes most of its money from business software and cloud services. In FY2026, Productivity & Business brought in $140.0bn ✓ and Intelligent Cloud $137.8bn ✓. Windows, Xbox, Surface and search ads made up the other $54.1bn ✓.
Does Microsoft own OpenAI?
No, Microsoft owns only part of OpenAI. Its stake was about 24% at 30 September 2026 24. OpenAI pays Microsoft a share of its revenue through 2030, up to a cap 28. Microsoft can use OpenAI's technology until 2032, but not exclusively 28.
What is the Microsoft Cloud?
The Microsoft Cloud is a group of Microsoft's online business services, not a separate segment. It includes Azure, Microsoft 365 business cloud, LinkedIn's business services and Dynamics 365 3. Its sales grew 27% to $214.4bn in FY2026 3.
Why is Microsoft changing how it reports its business?
Microsoft is moving to two segments because AI is blurring the lines between its products, its CEO says 3524. From FY2027 it reports Agents and Infra, which holds Azure and Microsoft 365, and Devices and Consumer, which holds Windows, Xbox and search 24 24.
Who runs Microsoft?
Satya Nadella runs Microsoft. He has been CEO since February 2014 and chairman since June 2021 1. Before him, Steve Ballmer was named CEO in January 2000 36. Amy Hood has been chief financial officer since 2013 1.
Is Xbox shrinking?
Xbox sales are falling for now. In FY2026, Xbox revenue fell 7%, with hardware down 29% and content and services down 5% 3. Asha Sharma became the new head of Microsoft Gaming in February 2026 37.
Does Microsoft pay a dividend?
Yes, Microsoft pays a dividend. It paid $26.4bn ✓ in dividends in FY2026, up from $11.0bn ✓ in FY2016. It also bought back $22.3bn ✓ of its own shares in FY2026.
How much does Microsoft spend on datacenters?
Microsoft's capital spending, which pays for datacenters, servers and other equipment, was $115.9bn ✓ in FY2026, up from $8.3bn ✓ ten years before. It also had $364.6bn of leases, mainly for datacenters, signed but not yet started at 30 September 2026 24.
🎮Play: higher or lower, then test yourself
Figures come from each company's latest annual report (10-K); fiscal years end in different months. Sources: [4] [20] [21] [22] [5] [8] [6].
🧠 Test yourself
5 quick questions. Score: 0 / 5
1. Which Microsoft unit brought in the most money in FY2026?
2. How many members does LinkedIn say it has?
3. In how many of the 10 years since FY2016 did Microsoft's sales grow?
4. In which city was Microsoft founded?
5. Why did Microsoft's free cash flow fall in FY2026 while its profit rose?
🔎Sources and method
Every figure comes from a source listed here or is calculated from those sources (marked ✓). Company financials are taken from SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q) as tagged in XBRL. Peer grades rank the same measures across the company and its peers. This page contains no share-price data and no valuation.
- Microsoft Form 10-K FY2026 (year to 2026-06-30), filed 2026-07-29, Part I Item 1 Business and executive officers — Founded 1975, mission, three segments and their products, revenue drivers, competition, cloud economies of scale, employees, operations and suppliers, intellectual property, distribution, EU Digital Markets Act compliance, executive officers (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Microsoft (MSFT) Form 10-K for fiscal year 2026, filed 2026-07-29 — revenue and cost of sales by product, segment and geography (accessed 2026-10-28)
- Microsoft Form 10-K FY2026, Part II Item 7 MD&A — Fiscal year end, Microsoft Cloud revenue, commercial remaining performance obligation, seasonality, FY2026 growth by product (Microsoft 365, Azure, LinkedIn, Dynamics 365, Xbox, server products) (accessed 2026-10-29)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: Microsoft (MSFT) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: Meta Platforms, Inc. (META) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: Microsoft (MSFT) — balance sheet at 2026-06-30 (accessed 2026-10-28)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: ORACLE CORP (ORCL) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- Apple Form 10-K FY2025 (year to 2025-09-27), Item 1 Business — Mac personal computers on macOS; iPad tablets on iPadOS (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Alphabet Form 10-K FY2025 (year to 2025-12-31), Item 1 Business — Google Cloud Platform and Google Workspace; competitor types incl. search engines, enterprise cloud and workspace tools (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Amazon Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025 — Item 1 competition and Item 1A competition risk: competitor groups, principal competitive factors, AI and comparison shopping (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Microsoft Form 10-K for fiscal year 2026 — Item 1 competition: Azure (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Microsoft Form 10-K for fiscal year ended June 30, 2026 — Search advertising (Bing, Copilot, Microsoft News, Edge) competes with social platforms; AI offerings compete with frontier model providers and open-source offerings (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Meta Platforms Form 10-K for fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 (filed 2026-01-29) — Item 1 Business: mission, apps, Reality Labs products, segments, sales, competition, technology, marketing, intellectual property, corporate information, fiscal year (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Oracle Form 10-K for fiscal year 2026 (ended May 31, 2026) — Item 1 competition (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Oracle press release on Q2 fiscal 2026 results (Form 8-K exhibit 99.1, December 10, 2025) — Q2 FY2026 contract commitments, Ampere sale, cloud regions, multicloud data centers (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Microsoft Form 10-K for fiscal year 2026 (ended June 30, 2026) — Item 1: Dynamics 365 cloud CRM and ERP applications and agentic AI tools; Dynamics competition (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Salesforce Form 10-K for fiscal year 2026 (ended January 31, 2026) — Item 1 overview and service offerings (Sales, Service, Platform, Data 360, Informatica, Slack, Agentforce, Marketing, Commerce, Integration, Analytics, Industries); principal office (accessed 2026-10-29)
- European Commission press release IP/25/2048: Commission accepts commitments offered by Microsoft related to Teams (September 12, 2025) — Teams commitments made binding; case followed a complaint by Slack, now owned by Salesforce (accessed 2026-10-29)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: Apple Inc. (AAPL) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: AMAZON COM INC (AMZN) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- Microsoft Investor Relations: FY26 Q4 earnings call, 2026-07-29 — Paid Microsoft 365 Copilot seats, GitHub Copilot users, datacenters added, capacity plans, demand above capacity (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Microsoft Form 10-Q for the quarter to 2026-09-30 (Q1 FY2027), filed 2026-10-28 — Two new segments and their contents, Q1 FY2027 drivers (Microsoft 365, Windows OEM, Xbox), OpenAI stake and quarterly revenue, datacenter leases not yet commenced, LinkedIn GDPR appeal, switching-platform costs risk factor (accessed 2026-10-29)
- European Commission press release IP/25/2048: Commission accepts commitments offered by Microsoft on Teams, 2025-09-12 — Binding Teams commitments: suites without Teams, interoperability, data export, duration; Slack complaint (accessed 2026-10-29)
- LinkedIn Pressroom: About LinkedIn — Members, companies and job applications per minute, as shown on the access date (accessed 2026-10-29)
- GOV.UK: CMA cloud services market investigation case page — Final decision 2025-07-31; recommendation to prioritise strategic market status investigations into Microsoft and AWS (accessed 2026-10-29)
- The Official Microsoft Blog: The next phase of the Microsoft-OpenAI partnership, 2026-04-27 — Azure primary cloud partner; OpenAI may serve products on any cloud; non-exclusive IP licence to 2032; revenue share changes (accessed 2026-10-29)
- European Commission: Commission designates six gatekeepers under the Digital Markets Act, 2023-09-06 — Microsoft designated a gatekeeper on 2023-09-06 (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Microsoft Form 8-K Exhibit 99.1, Q1 FY2027 earnings release, filed 2026-10-28 — Q1 FY2027 Microsoft Cloud revenue, Azure growth, commercial remaining performance obligation (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Microsoft Form 10-K FY2026, Item 1A Risk Factors and Notes to the financial statements — OpenAI equity-method investment, OpenAI revenue and net gains, Activision Blizzard acquisition, IRS tax dispute, AI capacity risks (accessed 2026-10-29)
- The Official Microsoft Blog: The next chapter of the Microsoft-OpenAI partnership, 2025-10-28 — Stake in OpenAI Group PBC after recapitalization, IP rights to 2032, added Azure commitment, right of first refusal removed (accessed 2026-10-29)
- The Official Microsoft Blog: Microsoft, NVIDIA and Anthropic announce strategic partnerships, 2025-11-18 — Microsoft investment in Anthropic; Anthropic Azure compute commitment; Claude models in Foundry and Copilot (accessed 2026-10-29)
- GOV.UK: CMA launches strategic market status investigation into the Microsoft business software ecosystem, 2026-05-14 — Investigation start date, scope and decision deadline (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Microsoft Form 8-K Exhibit 99.1, FY27 Segments and Investor Metrics, filed 2026-09-02 — Move from three to two reporting segments from fiscal 2027; note from Satya Nadella on the reasons (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Microsoft News Center: Facts about Microsoft — Headquarters address; move to Bellevue 1979; shares first public 1986-03-13; CEO appointments (accessed 2026-10-29)
- The Official Microsoft Blog: Asha Sharma named EVP and CEO, Microsoft Gaming, 2026-02-20 — Gaming leadership change; Phil Spencer retirement (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Microsoft Form 8-K Item 2.02, Q2 FY2026 results, filed 2026-01-28 — Date of the prior-year fiscal Q2 results; state of incorporation and headquarters address (accessed 2026-10-29)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: Microsoft (MSFT) — quarterly 10-Q/10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- Microsoft Form 10-K FY2017 (year to 2017-06-30) — LinkedIn acquisition completed 2016-12-08 for 27.0 billion dollars (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Microsoft Form 10-K FY2019 (year to 2019-06-30) — GitHub acquisition completed 2018-10-25 for 7.5 billion dollars (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Moscone Center: Microsoft Ignite 2026 event listing — Ignite 2026 dates and venue (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Microsoft DEF 14A proxy statement, filed 2026-10-21 — 2026 annual shareholders meeting date and format (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Microsoft Form 8-K Item 5.02, Reid Hoffman not standing for re-election, filed 2026-06-05 — Director since 2017 to leave the board at the 2026 annual meeting (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Microsoft: Windows 10 end of support — Windows 10 support end date; consumer Extended Security Updates end date (accessed 2026-10-29)