Public company on NASDAQ as MSFT. Copilot spans Office, GitHub and Azure, mixing OpenAI, Anthropic and in-house models. Strongest for organisations already inside Microsoft software and weaker as a neutral pick; revenue, headcount and compliance detail sit lower on this profile.
Microsoft is the Redmond software company behind Windows, Azure, GitHub and the Copilot assistants. Its Microsoft Cloud business grew 27% in fiscal 2026, and Azure and other cloud services grew 43% in the final quarter. Satya Nadella is chairman and chief executive.
Founded: 1975 · HQ: Redmond, WA, USA · Team: 223000 · CEO: Satya Nadella · Funding: Public company (NASDAQ: MSFT, IPO March 13, 1986). Fiscal 2026 revenue $331.8B; Microsoft Cloud revenue $214.4B (annual report, year ended June 30, 2026). · Valuation: Publicly traded; market capitalisation moves daily (NASDAQ: MSFT)
About Microsoft
Microsoft was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen to write software for personal computers. It listed on NASDAQ (MSFT) on March 13, 1986, built its position on Windows and Office, and under Satya Nadella, CEO since 2014 and now chairman and CEO, turned to Azure and cloud subscriptions. Its acquisitions include LinkedIn (2016), GitHub (2018) and Activision Blizzard (2023). It is headquartered in Redmond, Washington.
Microsoft's own fiscal 2026 numbers, from its July 29, 2026 earnings release and its annual report, set the scale. Revenue for the year ended June 30, 2026 was $331.8 billion, up 18%. Operating income was $155.2 billion and GAAP net income was $133.7 billion. Microsoft Cloud revenue reached $214.4 billion, up 27%, and commercial remaining performance obligation rose 84% to $678 billion. In the fourth quarter Azure and other cloud services grew 43%, and Nadella said Azure passed $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time.
The AI story runs through the Copilot brand. The company reports that Microsoft 365 Copilot has over 30 million paid seats. Day to day, that means Microsoft Copilot inside Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, Copilot Studio for building custom agents, and GitHub Copilot for developers. Our plain-language explainer, what Microsoft Copilot is for, covers which of these a normal user needs. Microsoft does not rely on one model supplier. It has a long OpenAI relationship, and its fourth-quarter release records a $3.2 billion gain on its investment in Anthropic. It also ships in-house models such as MAI-Thinking-1 and the small open-weight Phi-4.
Capacity and headcount moved in different directions. Its annual report counts about 223,000 full-time employees on June 30, 2026, 121,000 in the U.S. and 102,000 abroad, and the earnings release mentions a Voluntary Retirement Program and Xbox severance and impairment charges. Spending on AI infrastructure is heavy, which is the cost side of the cloud growth above.
Where Microsoft is the weaker pick: its growth is concentrated in commercial cloud, while the consumer and gaming lines shrank in the fourth quarter (Windows OEM and Devices down 7%, Xbox content and services down 10%). Teams that do not live in Microsoft 365 get less from Copilot than those that do, and a company standardised on Google Workspace or on AWS will usually find the competing stack the lower-friction choice. Read Microsoft as the default for organisations already inside its software, not as the neutral option for everyone.
Mission
Empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. (Extended: Democratize AI, making it accessible and beneficial for everyone.)
Products
- Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) (Productivity suite with Copilot; Microsoft 365 Copilot passed 30 million paid seats (July 2026)): https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-365
- Azure Cloud Platform (Cloud infrastructure and AI services; passed $100 billion in annual revenue in fiscal 2026): https://azure.microsoft.com
- Copilot (Windows, 365, Studio, Azure) (AI assistant across products, including Copilot Chat and Copilot Studio): https://copilot.microsoft.com
- GitHub (Developer platform with GitHub Copilot code assistance): https://github.com
- Windows & Copilot+ PC (Operating system with on-device AI features (Windows OEM and Devices revenue down 7% in Q4 FY2026)): https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows
- LinkedIn (Professional network (revenue up 12% in Q4 FY2026)): https://www.linkedin.com
Microsoft Models on Hokai
Compliance
SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3, ISO 27001, ISO 27018, HIPAA-eligible, PCI DSS, FedRAMP High, HITRUST, GDPR, ISO 27701
Links
Frequently Asked Questions
What does Microsoft sell in AI?
Microsoft sells AI mainly through the Copilot family and the Azure cloud. Microsoft 365 Copilot works inside Office apps, Copilot Studio builds custom agents, GitHub Copilot assists developers, and Azure hosts models from several providers. Microsoft also ships its own models, including MAI-Thinking-1 and Phi-4.
How big is Microsoft after fiscal 2026?
For the year ended June 30, 2026 Microsoft reported revenue growth of 18% and operating income of $155.2 billion. The earnings release and annual report split results into Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud and More Personal Computing, so a reader can see which parts drive growth and which shrank.
How many paid seats does Microsoft 365 Copilot have?
Microsoft said in its July 29, 2026 earnings release that Microsoft 365 Copilot reached over 30 million paid seats. That counts paid users of the add-on, not everyone who uses Copilot features, and Microsoft does not break the figure down by plan or region in the release.
Who runs Microsoft?
Satya Nadella is chairman and chief executive officer, and Amy Hood is executive vice president and chief financial officer. Both are quoted in the fiscal fourth-quarter 2026 earnings release. Microsoft is a public company on NASDAQ under MSFT, so it has no venture funding rounds to track.
How many people work at Microsoft?
Microsoft employed approximately 223,000 people full time on June 30, 2026, according to its annual report. That is below the 228,000 reported a year earlier. The filing predates cuts and voluntary departures announced after the fiscal year ended, so the next annual report will show a different figure.
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