The company's initial public offering was held on March 14, 1986. The stock, which eventually closed at $27.75 a share, peaked at $29.25 a share shortly after the market opened for trading. After the offering, Microsoft had a market capitalization of $519.777 million.[1] Microsoft has subsequently acquired over 225 companies, purchased stakes in 64 companies, and made 25 divestments. Of the companies that Microsoft has acquired, 107 were based in the United States. Microsoft has not released financial details for most of these mergers and acquisitions.
Microsoft has also purchased several stakes valued at more than a billion dollars. It obtained an 11.5% stake in Comcast for $1 billion, a 22.98% stake in Telewest for $2.263 billion, and a 3% stake in AT&T for $5 billion. Among Microsoft's divestments, in which parts of the company are sold to another company, only Expedia Group was sold for more than a billion dollars; USA Networks purchased the company on February 5, 2002, for $1.372 billion (~$2.22billion in 2023).
On December 31, 1997, Microsoft acquired Hotmail.com for $500 million (~$882million in 2023), its largest acquisition at the time, and integrated Hotmail into its MSN group of services.[3] Hotmail, a free webmail service founded in 1996 by Jack Smith and Sabeer Bhatia,[4] had more than 8.5 million subscribers earlier that month.[5]
In 1999, Microsoft reportedly discussed a buyout of Nintendo. However, execs failed to negotiate a deal, with Xbox co-inventor Kevin Bachus explaining "They just laughed their asses off."[6][7][8]
Microsoft acquired Seattle-based Visio Corporation on January 7, 2000, for $1.375 billion (~$2.31billion in 2023). Visio, a software company, was founded in 1990 as Axon Corporation, and had its initial public offering in November 1995.[9] The company developed the diagramming application software, Visio, which was integrated into Microsoft's product line as Microsoft Visio after its acquisition.
Microsoft purchased aQuantive, an advertising company, on August 13, 2007, for $6.333 billion (~$8.97billion in 2023). Before the acquisition, aQuantive was ranked 14th in terms of revenue among advertising agencies worldwide. aQuantive had three subsidiaries at the time of the acquisition: Avenue A/Razorfish, one of the world's largest digital agencies,[12] Atlas Solutions, and DRIVE Performance Solutions.[13]
On May 10, 2011, Microsoft announced its acquisition of Skype Technologies, creator of the VoIP service Skype, for $8.5 billion (~$11.4billion in 2023).[15] With a value 32 times larger than Skype's operating profits, the deal was Microsoft's largest acquisition at the time.[16][17] Skype would become a division within Microsoft, with Skype's former CEO Tony Bates —then the division's first president —reporting to the CEO of Microsoft.[18]
On September 2, 2013, Microsoft announced its intent to acquire the mobile hardware division of Nokia (which had established a long-term partnership with Microsoft to produce smartphones built off its Windows Phone platform)[19] in a deal worth 3.79 billion euros, along with another 1.65 billion to license Nokia's portfolio of patents. Steve Ballmer considered the purchase to be a "bold step into the future" for both companies, primarily as a result of its recent collaborations. The acquisition, scheduled to close in early 2014 pending regulatory approval, did not include the Here mapping service or the infrastructure division Nokia Solutions and Networks, which will be retained by Nokia.[20][21] While the deal went through, in May 2016 Microsoft abandoned its mobile business and sold the Nokia feature phone line.
On June 13, 2016, Microsoft announced it planned to acquire the professional networking site LinkedIn for $26.2 billion, to be completed by the end of 2016. The acquisition would keep LinkedIn as a distinct brand and retain its current CEO, Jeff Weiner, who will subsequently report to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.[23] The acquisition was completed on December 8, 2016.[24]
On June 4, 2018, Microsoft acquired the popular code repository site GitHub for $7.5 billion (~$8.96billion in 2023) in Microsoft stock.[25]
On September 21, 2020, Microsoft announced its intent to acquire ZeniMax Media and all its subsidiaries for $7.5 billion (~$8.7billion in 2023). The acquisition was completed on March 9, 2021.
On January 18, 2022, Microsoft announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard, an American video game holding company, for $68.7 billion in cash.[26] The deal has been approved by both companies' board of directors and was finalized on October 13, 2023, with the total cost of the acquisition amounting to $75.4 billion, following international government regulatory review of the action.[27][28]
Acquisitions
This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: Microsoft has executed several substantial Acquisitions, but only some are listed here. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(July 2024)
This section needs to be updated. The reason given is: Microsoft has executed several substantial buy-backs, but only some are listed here. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(January 2024)
↑ Staff writer (June 20, 1986). "Microsoft Acquisition". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company: 1 – via ProQuest.
↑ Andrews, Paul (2000). How the Web was Won: How Bill Gates and His Internet Idealists Transformed the Microsoft Empire. Broadway Books. p.97. ISBN9780767900492.
↑ "Swing joins Microsoft" (Press release). Swing Technologies. November 6, 2017. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
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