List of companies acquired by Microsoft Corporation
Encyclopedia
Microsoft Corporation is an American public
Public company
This is not the same as a Government-owned corporation.A public company or publicly traded company is a limited liability company that offers its securities for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange, or through market makers operating in over the counter markets...

 multinational corporation
Multinational corporation
A multi national corporation or enterprise , is a corporation or an enterprise that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. It can also be referred to as an international corporation...

 headquartered in Redmond
Redmond, Washington
Redmond is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located east of Seattle. The population was 54,144 at the 2010 census,up from 45,256 in 2000....

, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing
Computing
Computing is usually defined as the activity of using and improving computer hardware and software. It is the computer-specific part of information technology...

 through its various product divisions. Established on April 4, 1975 to develop and sell BASIC
BASIC
BASIC is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages whose design philosophy emphasizes ease of use - the name is an acronym from Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code....

 interpreters for the Altair 8800
Altair 8800
The MITS Altair 8800 was a microcomputer design from 1975 based on the Intel 8080 CPU and sold by mail order through advertisements in Popular Electronics, Radio-Electronics and other hobbyist magazines. The designers hoped to sell only a few hundred build-it-yourself kits to hobbyists, and were...

, Microsoft rose to dominate the home computer
Home computer
Home computers were a class of microcomputers entering the market in 1977, and becoming increasingly common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user...

 operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

 market with MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...

 in the mid-1980s, followed by the Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

 line of operating systems. Microsoft would also come to dominate the office suite
Office suite
In computing, an office suite, sometimes called an office software suite or productivity suite is a collection of programs intended to be used by knowledge workers...

 market with Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...

. The company has diversified in recent years into the video game industry with the Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...

 and its successor, the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...

 as well as into the consumer electronics
Consumer electronics
Consumer electronics are electronic equipment intended for everyday use, most often in entertainment, communications and office productivity. Radio broadcasting in the early 20th century brought the first major consumer product, the broadcast receiver...

 and digital services market with Zune
Zune
Zune is a digital media brand owned by Microsoft which includes a line of portable media players, a digital media player software for Windows machines, a music subscription service known as a 'Zune Music Pass', music and video streaming for the Xbox 360 via the Zune Software, music, TV and movie...

, MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...

 and the Windows Phone
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...

 OS.

The company's initial public offering
Initial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...

 was held on March 14, 1986. The stock, which eventually closed at US$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. Microsoft has subsequently acquired 146 companies, purchased stakes in 61 companies, and made 25 divestment
Divestment
In finance and economics, divestment or divestiture is the reduction of some kind of asset for either financial or ethical objectives or sale of an existing business by a firm...

s. 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.

Since Microsoft's first acquisition in 1987, it has purchased an average of six companies a year. The company has purchased more than ten companies a year since 2005, and it acquired 18 firms in 2006, the most in a single year, including Onfolio, Lionhead Studios
Lionhead Studios
Lionhead Studios is a British computer game development company led by industry veteran Peter Molyneux, and acquired by Microsoft Game Studios in April 2006. Lionhead started as a breakaway from the developer Bullfrog, which was also founded by Molyneux. Lionhead's first game was Black & White, a...

, Massive Incorporated
Massive Incorporated
Massive Incorporated is an advertising company that provides software and services to dynamically host advertisements within video games. Massive Incorporated was purchased by Microsoft in May 2006 for approximately $200 million to $400 million....

, ProClarity, Winternals Software, and Colloquis
Colloquis
Colloquis, previously known as ActiveBuddy and Conversagent, was a company that created conversation-based interactive agents originally distributed via instant messaging platforms. The company had offices in New York, NY and Sunnyvale, CA....

. Microsoft has made five acquisitions worth over one billion dollars: Skype
Skype
Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chat over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system...

 (2011), aQuantive
AQuantive
aQuantive, Inc. was the parent company of a group of three digital marketing service and technology companies: Avenue A/Razorfish, Atlas Solutions, and DRIVE Performance Solutions....

 (2007), Fast Search & Transfer
Fast Search & Transfer
Fast Search & Transfer ASA is a Norwegian company based in Oslo. FAST focuses on data search technologies. It also has offices located in Germany, Italy, Sri Lanka, France, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, Mexico and other countries around the world. The company was founded...

 (2008), Navision (2002), and Visio Corporation
Visio Corporation
Visio Corporation was a software company based in Seattle, Washington. Its principal product was a diagramming application software of the same name. It was acquired by Microsoft and is now in a division of that company, which continues to develop the application under the name Microsoft...

 (2000).

Microsoft has also purchased several stakes valued at more than a billion dollars. It obtained an 11.5% stake in Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...

 for $1 billion, a 22.98% stake in Telewest Communications for $2.263 billion, and a 3% stake in AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...

 for $5 billion. Among Microsoft's divestments, in which parts of the company are sold to another company, only Expedia, Inc.
Expedia, Inc.
Expedia, Inc. is an American company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington that operates several travel brands including Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, Egencia , TripAdvisor, Expedia Local Expert, Classic Vacations and eLong. Expedia, Inc.’s companies operate more than 90 branded points of...

 was sold for more than a billion dollars; USA Networks purchased the company on February 5, 2002 for $1.372 billion.

Key acquisitions

Microsoft's first acquisition was Forethought
Forethought (company)
Forethought, Inc. was a computer software company, best known as developers of what is now Microsoft PowerPoint.-History:In late 1983, Rob Campbell and Taylor Pohlman founded Forethought, Inc in order to develop object oriented bit-mapped application software. In 1984, they hired Bob Gaskins, a...

 on June 29, 1987. Forethought was founded in 1983 and developed a presentation program
Presentation program
A presentation program is a computer software package used to display information, normally in the form of a slide show...

 that would later be known as Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft PowerPoint, usually just called PowerPoint, is a non-free commercial presentation program developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Office suite, and runs on Microsoft Windows and Apple's Mac OS X operating system...

.

On December 31, 1997, Microsoft acquired Hotmail
Hotmail
Windows Live Hotmail, formerly known as MSN Hotmail and commonly referred to simply as Hotmail, is a free web-based email service operated by Microsoft as part of its Windows Live group. It was founded by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith and launched in July 1996 as "HoTMaiL". It was one of the first...

 for $500 million, its largest acquisition at the time, and integrated Hotmail into its MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...

 group of services. Hotmail, a free webmail service founded in 1996 by Jack Smith
Jack Smith (Hotmail)
Jack Smith, along with Sabeer Bhatia, founded the first free web-based email service, Hotmail, in 1995. He has been the CEO of Proximex since 2007.-Career:...

 and Sabeer Bhatia
Sabeer Bhatia
Sabeer Bhatia is an Indian American entrepreneur who co-founded the Hotmail email service and Jaxtr.- Background :...

, had more than 8.5 million subscribers earlier that month.

Microsoft acquired Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

-based Visio Corporation
Visio Corporation
Visio Corporation was a software company based in Seattle, Washington. Its principal product was a diagramming application software of the same name. It was acquired by Microsoft and is now in a division of that company, which continues to develop the application under the name Microsoft...

 on January 7, 2000 for $1.375 billion. Visio, a software company, was founded in 1990 as Axon Corporation, and had its initial public offering in November 1995. The company developed the diagramming application software
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...

, Visio, which was integrated into Microsoft's product line as Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Visio , formerly known as Microsoft Office Visio, is a commercial diagramming program for Microsoft Windows that uses vector graphics to create diagrams.- Features :...

 after its acquisition.

On July 12, 2002, Microsoft purchased Navision for $1.33 billion. The company, which developed the technology for the Microsoft Dynamics NAV
Microsoft Dynamics NAV
Microsoft Dynamics NAV is an enterprise resource planning software product from Microsoft.The product is part of the Microsoft Dynamics family, and intended to assist with finance, manufacturing, customer relationship management, supply chains, analytics and electronic commerce for small and...

 enterprise resource planning
Enterprise resource planning
Enterprise resource planning systems integrate internal and external management information across an entire organization, embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service, customer relationship management, etc. ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application...

 software, was integrated into Microsoft as a new division named Microsoft Business Solutions, later renamed to Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management software applications developed by Microsoft. Microsoft Dynamics applications are delivered through a network of reselling partners who provide specialized services...

.

Microsoft purchased aQuantive
AQuantive
aQuantive, Inc. was the parent company of a group of three digital marketing service and technology companies: Avenue A/Razorfish, Atlas Solutions, and DRIVE Performance Solutions....

, an advertising company, on August 13, 2007 for $6.333 billion. 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
Avenue A/Razorfish
Razorfish Inc. is one of the world's largest interactive agencies. Razorfish provides services including digital advertising and content creation, media buying, strategic counsel, analytics, technology and user experience...

, one of the world's largest digital agencies
Digital agency
A digital or new media agency is a business that delivers services for the creative and technical development of internet based products. These services range from the more generalist such as web design, e-mail marketing and microsites etc...

, Atlas Solutions, and DRIVE Performance Solutions. Microsoft acquired the Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 enterprise search
Enterprise search
Enterprise search is the practice of making content from multiple enterprise-type sources, such as databases and intranets, searchable to a defined audience.-Enterprise search summary:...

 company Fast Search & Transfer
Fast Search & Transfer
Fast Search & Transfer ASA is a Norwegian company based in Oslo. FAST focuses on data search technologies. It also has offices located in Germany, Italy, Sri Lanka, France, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, Mexico and other countries around the world. The company was founded...

 on April 25, 2008 for $1.191 billion to boost its search technology.

Acquisitions

Date Company Business Country Value (USD) References
Forethought
Forethought (company)
Forethought, Inc. was a computer software company, best known as developers of what is now Microsoft PowerPoint.-History:In late 1983, Rob Campbell and Taylor Pohlman founded Forethought, Inc in order to develop object oriented bit-mapped application software. In 1984, they hired Bob Gaskins, a...

Computer software 1,400,000
Consumers Software
Consumers Software
Consumers Software is a computer networking company based in Canada. It was acquired by Microsoft on March 18, 1991 and merged its technology with Microsoft Windows....

Software 20,500,000
Fox Software PC database software 174,800,000
Softimage Wholesale 3-D visualization software 139,000,000
Altamira Software Software
NextBase Software
One Tree Software Software
RenderMorphics 3D graphics hardware
Network Managers Systems design
Blue Ribbon Soundworks
Blue Ribbon Soundworks
The 'Blue Ribbon SoundWorks is a digital audio editor company in the United States. It was acquired by Microsoft on October 16, 1995, and merged its technology with DirectSound. The company was also known for Bars&Pipes, a series of music sequencer software packages written for the Amiga...

Software
Netwise Computer software
Bruce Artwick Organization Programming
Vermeer Technologies Software
VGA-Animation Software DivVGA-Animation Software Div was acquired from VGA. Software
Colusa Software Software
Exos Video game controllers
Aspect Software Engineering Computer software 14,150,000
eShop Software
Electric Gravity Electronic games
Panorama Software Sys-On-LinePanorama Software Sys-On-Line was acquired from Panorama Software
Panorama Software
Panorama Software is a Canadian software and consulting company specializing in business intelligence. The company was founded by Rony Ross in Israel in 1993; it relocated its worldwide headquarters to Toronto, Canada in 2003....

.
Software
NetCarta Internet software 20,000,000
Interse Internet software
WebTV Networks Internet service provider 425,000,000
Dimension X Java-based platforms
Cooper & Peters Programming
LinkAge Software Internet software development
VXtreme
VXtreme
VXtreme Inc. was founded in 1995 to develop and market a complete softwaresolution for high-quality business video over the Internet. The company'sscalable software-only video solution allowed organizations to create and...

Internet video software
Hotmail
Hotmail
Windows Live Hotmail, formerly known as MSN Hotmail and commonly referred to simply as Hotmail, is a free web-based email service operated by Microsoft as part of its Windows Live group. It was founded by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith and launched in July 1996 as "HoTMaiL". It was one of the first...

Internet software 500,000,000
Flash Communications Enterprise instant messaging software
Firefly
Firefly (website)
Firefly Network, Inc. was founded in March 1995 by a group of engineers from MIT Media Lab and some business people from Harvard Business School, including Pattie Maes , Upendra Shardanand, Nick Grouf, Max Metral, David Waxman and Yezdi Lashkari...

Relationship management software 40,000,000
MESA Group Data sharing software
Valence Research Internet software
LinkExchange
LinkExchange
LinkExchange was a popular internet advertising cooperative, originally known as Internet Link Exchange or ILE.It was founded in March 1996 by 23-year-old Harvard graduates Tony Hsieh and Sanjay Madan. Ali Partovi later joined them as a third partner...

Internet advertising network 265,000,000
FASA Interactive
FASA Interactive
FASA Studio was a video game developer that was founded in 1995 by the tabletop game company FASA Corporation, Spectrum HoloByte and Denny Thorley....

Computer game software
CompareNet Shopping online
Numinous Technologies Software
Interactive Objects-Digital Web music software
Jump Networks Internet service provider
ShadowFactor Software Wholesale computer software
Omnibrowse Internet software
Intrinsa Defect detection software 58,900,000
Sendit Application software 125,420,000
Zoomit Encryption software
STNC Community software
Softway Systems Computer programming
Entropic Software
Visio Corporation
Visio Corporation
Visio Corporation was a software company based in Seattle, Washington. Its principal product was a diagramming application software of the same name. It was acquired by Microsoft and is now in a division of that company, which continues to develop the application under the name Microsoft...

Wholesale drawing software 1,375,000,000
Peach Networks Digital TV services
Travelscape Internet service provider 89,750,000
Titus Communications Cable television 944,800,000
Bungie Software Computer software
NetGames Software
MongoMusic Online music search engine 65,000,000
Pacific Microsonics Digital audio technology
Vacationspot Internet service provider 70,850,000
Great Plains Software Business management software 939,884,000
Intellisol International Software
NCompass Labs Internet software 36,000,000
Maximal Innovative Intelligence Software 20,000,000
Yupi
Yupi
Yupi is a Latin Internet portal founded in 1997 by Carlos Cardona, a young web developer from South Florida. Yupi was one of a handful of the first major sites for Hispanics on the Internet in the late 1990s Dot-com bubble. Yupi.com was a major force in Silicon Beach "the prime Internet hub for...

Online Spanish Portal
Classic Custom Vacations Travel agency 78,000,000
Sales Management Systems Software
Navision Software programming 1,330,000,000
Mobilocity Computer consulting
XDegrees Security software
Rare Software and video games 375,000,000
Vicinity Online enterprise location 95,849,000
Connectix
Connectix
Connectix Corporation was a software and hardware company, noted for having released innovative products that were either made obsolete as Apple Computer incorporated the ideas into system software, or were sold to other companies once they become popular...

Software
DCG Internet software
PlaceWare
PlaceWare
PlaceWare was founded in 1996 as a spin-off from Xerox PARC by Pavel Curtis, the founder of LambdaMOO, Mike Dixon, David Nichols, Richard Bruce, and Bob Krivacic.In 2003, Microsoft acquired PlaceWare and renamed its core product Microsoft Office Live Meeting....

Web conferencing 200,000,000
G.A. Sullivan Information technology
GeCAD Software Antivirus technology  Kingdom of Romania
3DO
The 3DO Company
The 3DO Company , also known as 3DO , was a video game company...

 Co-High Heat Baseball
Software 450,000
Encore Bus Solutions-IP Asts IP assets
ActiveViews Reporting systems
Lookout Software Personal search tool
GIANT Company Software
GIANT Company Software
GIANT Company Software, Inc. developed internet security products, including GIANT Spam Inspector, GIANT Popup Inspector, and GIANT AntiSpyware. GIANT's head office was located in New York, NY, and it also had offices in Chicago and Atlanta, GA. GIANT Company Software was founded by Ronald Franczyk...

Anti-spyware
en'tegrate Software
Groove Networks
Groove Networks
Groove Networks was a software company based in Beverly, Massachusetts. Founded by Ray Ozzie, the creator of IBM's Lotus Notes application, the privately held company specialized in productivity software that allows multiple users to work collaboratively on computer files simultaneously.On...

Community software
MessageCast Messaging 7,000,000
Tsinghua-Shenxun-Cert Asts Certain assets 15,000,000
Sybari Software Software
Teleo
Teleo
Teleo was a peer-to-peer internet telephony network, founded by Wendell Brown and Andy Moeck. Teleo users could speak to other Teleo users for free, call traditional telephone numbers for a fee, and receive calls from traditional phones....

VoIP
FrontBridge Technologies Email protection
Alacris Certificate management software
media-streams.com Software
5th Finger Mobile 3,153,000
UMT-Software and IP Assets Software
MotionBridge Search 17,858,000
Seadragon Software
Seadragon Software
Seadragon was a team within the Microsoft Live Labs. Seadragon is a web optimized visualization technology that allows graphics and photos to be smoothly browsed, regardless of their size...

Software
Apptimum Software
Onfolio Internet software
Lionhead Studios
Lionhead Studios
Lionhead Studios is a British computer game development company led by industry veteran Peter Molyneux, and acquired by Microsoft Game Studios in April 2006. Lionhead started as a breakaway from the developer Bullfrog, which was also founded by Molyneux. Lionhead's first game was Black & White, a...

Video games
AssetMetrix Enterprise software
Massive Incorporated
Massive Incorporated
Massive Incorporated is an advertising company that provides software and services to dynamically host advertisements within video games. Massive Incorporated was purchased by Microsoft in May 2006 for approximately $200 million to $400 million....

Video game advertising
Vexcel Mapping software
DeepMetrix Web log analysis
ProClarity Analysis software
iView Multimedia Digital asset management
Softricity application virtualization software
Winternals Software Software
Whale Communications Applications
Gteko Applications
DesktopStandard Applications
Colloquis
Colloquis
Colloquis, previously known as ActiveBuddy and Conversagent, was a company that created conversation-based interactive agents originally distributed via instant messaging platforms. The company had offices in New York, NY and Sunnyvale, CA....

Natural language software
Medstory Internet search engine
devBiz Business Solutions Software tools
ScreenTonic
ScreenTonic
ScreenTonic SA is a Paris-based company founded in 2001. ScreenTonic is a mobile advertising company, and it has been a pioneer in the field.The most prominent product developed by ScreenTonic is the STAMP technology platform, which...

Advertising and marketing
Tellme Networks
Tellme Networks
Tellme. Networks, Inc. is a company founded in 1999 by Mike McCue and Angus Davis, based out of Mountain View, California, in the United States, that specializes in telephone-based applications....

Mobile phone software
SoftArtisans Business Intelligence software
Engyro Information technology
Stratature Master Data Management
Savvis Inc-Data Centers Networking 200,000,000
AdECN Ad Exchange
aQuantive
AQuantive
aQuantive, Inc. was the parent company of a group of three digital marketing service and technology companies: Avenue A/Razorfish, Atlas Solutions, and DRIVE Performance Solutions....

Digital marketing 6,333,000,000
Jellyfish.com
Jellyfish.com
Jellyfish.com was a reverse auction online shopping site website. The Middleton, Wisconsin-based company was acquired by Microsoft in 2007. On May 22, 2008, Microsoft officially announced the cash back service as part of their Live Search group of tools...

Search engine
Parlano Enterprise messaging software
Global Care Solutions-Assets Assets
HOB Business Solutions Information technology
Musiwave Mobile music entertainment
Multimap.com
Multimap.com
Multimap.com was a United Kingdom based provider of mapping and location-based services. It was acquired by Microsoft in 2007 and merged into Bing Maps in 2010.-History:...

Mapping
Calista Technologies
Calista Technologies
Calista Technologies was a company that provided virtual device solutions for Windows. The general premise behind the technology was to provide an abstract virtual view of a hosting machine's devices from within a virtual machine through drivers for Windows Vista and Windows XP and present the...

Software
Caligari Corporation
Caligari Corporation
Caligari Corporation was founded in 1985 by Roman Ormandy. A prototype 3D video animation package for the Amiga Computer, which led to the incorporation of Octree Software in 1986. From 1988 to 1992, Octree released several software packages including Caligari1, Caligari2, Caligari Broadcast, and...

Software
YaData Software
Rapt Advertising yield management software
Komoku Rootkit security software 5,000,000
90 Degree Software Business intelligence software
Farecast Online search software 75,000,000
Danger
Danger (company)
Danger, Inc. was a company specializing in platforms, software, design, and services for mobile computing devices. Its most notable product was the T-Mobile Sidekick ....

Mobile Internet software 500,000,000
Fast Search & Transfer
Fast Search & Transfer
Fast Search & Transfer ASA is a Norwegian company based in Oslo. FAST focuses on data search technologies. It also has offices located in Germany, Italy, Sri Lanka, France, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, Mexico and other countries around the world. The company was founded...

Enterprise search 1,191,000,000
Kidaro Software
Quadreon Software
Navic Networks Management software
Mobicomp Mobile applications
Powerset
Powerset (company)
Powerset is a Microsoft owned company based in San Francisco, California that, in 2006, was developing a natural language search engine for the Internet....

Semantic Search
DATAllegro
DATAllegro
DATAllegro was a company that specializes in datawarehousing applicances. It was founded by Stuart Frost in 2003 inspired by and as a competitor to Data warehouse appliance pioneer Netezza...

Data software
Greenfield Online Search and e-commerce services 486,000,000
BigPark Interactive online gaming
Rosetta Biosoftware Bioinformatics solutions for life science research
Interactive Supercomputing Software
Opalis Software Software
Sentillion, Inc. Identity and Access Management Software for Healthcare
AVIcode, Inc. .Net monitoring technology
Canesta, Inc. 3-D sensing technology
Skype Communications, S.à r.l.
Microsoft Skype Division
Microsoft Skype Division is a division within Microsoft that develops and operates the VoIP software, Skype. Microsoft announced that it had planned on acquiring Skype Limited in May 2011 for $8.5 billion. The acquisition got US and EU approval and was completed on 13 October 2011, although...

Telecommunications 8,500,000,000
Prodiance Software
Videosurf Video search 100,000,000

Stakes

Date Company Business Country Value (USD) References
Santa Cruz OperationMicrosoft acquired an interest representing less than 20% of Santa Cruz Operation. Wholesale computer software
Dorling Kindersley
Dorling Kindersley
Dorling Kindersley is an international publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 51 languages. It is currently part of the Penguin Group....

Microsoft acquired a 26% stake in Dorling Kindersley
Dorling Kindersley
Dorling Kindersley is an international publishing company specializing in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 51 languages. It is currently part of the Penguin Group....

.
Reference books 14,340,000
Stac Electronics
Stac Electronics
Stac Electronics, originally incorporated as State of the Art Consulting and later shortened to Stac, Inc, was a technology company founded in 1983...

Data compression software 39,900,000
UUNet
UUNET
UUNET founded in 1987, was one of the largest Internet service providers and one of the nine Tier 1 networks. It was based in Northern Virginia and was the first commercial Internet service provider...

Internet service provider
Wang Laboratories
Wang Laboratories
Wang Laboratories was a computer company founded in 1951 by Dr. An Wang and Dr. G. Y. Chu. The company was successively headquartered in Cambridge , Tewksbury , and finally in Lowell, Massachusetts . At its peak in the 1980s, Wang Laboratories had annual revenues of $3 billion and employed over...

Software consulting 90,000,000
Individual On-line information retrieval
Mobile Telecom TechnologiesMicrosoft acquired a 2.5% stake in Mobile Telecom Technologies. Cellular telephones 25,000,000
Helicon Publishing Electronic books
SingleTrac
SingleTrac
SingleTrac Entertainment Technologies was a video game developer, mostly for the PlayStation platform. The management team and much of the original development team came from Evans & Sutherland, bringing their 3D graphics and software engineering skills into the video game industry.Its most famous...

Software
WebTV Networks Internet service provider
VDOnet Internet services
CMGI
CMGI
ModusLink Global Solutions, formerly CMGI Inc., is an American technology and venture capital company, headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. The company supplies a range of internet and communications services, mostly to computer companies, its biggest customer being Hewlett-Packard Company...

Microsoft acquired a 4.9% stake in CMGI
CMGI
ModusLink Global Solutions, formerly CMGI Inc., is an American technology and venture capital company, headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. The company supplies a range of internet and communications services, mostly to computer companies, its biggest customer being Hewlett-Packard Company...

.
Direct mail 20,000,000
Digital Anvil
Digital Anvil
Digital Anvil was a computer game company. It was founded in 1996, when Wing Commander creator Chris Roberts left Origin Systems, Inc., along with many other employees....

Computer game software
Interse Internet software
Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...

Microsoft acquired an 11.5% stake in Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...

.
Cable television 1,000,000,000
Apple ComputerMicrosoft acquired a 5% stake in Apple Computer. Personal computers 150,000,000
Progressive NetworksMicrosoft acquired a 10% in Progressive Networks. Internet software 30,000,000
Lernout & Hauspie
Lernout & Hauspie
Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products, or L&H, was a leading Belgium-based speech recognition technology company, founded by Jo Lernout and Pol Hauspie, that went bankrupt in 2001...

 SpeechMicrosoft acquired an 8% stake in Lernout & Hauspie
Lernout & Hauspie
Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products, or L&H, was a leading Belgium-based speech recognition technology company, founded by Jo Lernout and Pol Hauspie, that went bankrupt in 2001...

 Speech.
Multilingual software 45,000,000
E-StampMicrosoft acquired a 10% stake in E-Stamp. Internet software
General Magic
General Magic
General Magic was a company co-founded by Bill Atkinson, Andy Hertzfeld and Marc Porat that developed a new kind of handheld communications device they called a "personal intelligent communicator", which was a PDA precursor that stressed communications....

Community software 6,000,000
WavePhoreMicrosoft acquired a 2.88% stake in WavePhore. Radio and television equipment
Pluto Technologies Network and storage
Qwest CommunicationsMicrosoft acquired a 1.32% stake in Qwest Communications. Telecommunications 200,000,000
SkyTel CommunicationsMicrosoft acquired a 5.7% stake in SkyTel Communications. Cellular telephones
United Pan-Europe Comm NVMicrosoft acquired a 7.9% stake in United Pan-Europe Comm NV. Broadband communities 300,000,000
NTL
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...

Microsoft acquired a 5.25% stake in NTL
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...

.
Communications 500,000,000
Banyan
Banyan (company)
Banyan Systems, Inc. was founded in 1983 by David C. Mahoney, a software engineer and mid-level manager at Data General, Larry Floryan and Anand Jagannathan. The company's distinctive logo, a Banyan tree, and the logo's allegorical representation of Banyan's product suite, VINES, were conceived by...

Microsoft acquired a 7.5% stake in Banyan
Banyan (company)
Banyan Systems, Inc. was founded in 1983 by David C. Mahoney, a software engineer and mid-level manager at Data General, Larry Floryan and Anand Jagannathan. The company's distinctive logo, a Banyan tree, and the logo's allegorical representation of Banyan's product suite, VINES, were conceived by...

.
Software 10,000,000
Dialogic Computer telephony 24,200,000
Reciprocal Copyright protection
TV Cabo Portugal SA Cable television 38,600,000
Lernout & Hauspie
Lernout & Hauspie
Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products, or L&H, was a leading Belgium-based speech recognition technology company, founded by Jo Lernout and Pol Hauspie, that went bankrupt in 2001...

 Speech
Multilingual software 15,000,000
Inprise Computer software 125,000,000
NaviSiteMicrosoft acquired a 4.4% stake in NaviSite. Internet service provider
AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...

Microsoft acquired a 3% stake in AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...

.
Telecommunications 5,000,000,000
Concentric Network IP-based networks 50,000,000
WebMD
WebMD
WebMD is an American corporation which provides health information services. It was founded in 1996 by Jim Clark and Pavan Nigam as Healthscape, later Healtheon, and then acquired WebMD in 1999 to form Healtheon/WebMD...

Web-based health information 250,000,000
Tuttle Decision Systems Mortgage pricing information
Rogers Communications
Rogers Communications
Rogers Communications Inc. is one of Canada's largest communications companies, particularly in the field of wireless communications, cable television, home phone and internet with additional telecommunications and mass media assets...

Radio and television stations 405,120,000
Korea ThrunetMicrosoft acquired a 6% stake in Korea Thrunet. Internet service provider 36,000,000
Globo CaboMicrosoft acquired an 11.5% stake in Globo Cabo. Cable television 126,000,000
CommTouch SoftwareMicrosoft acquired a 5.6% stake in CommTouch Software. Community security software 20,000,000
GigamediaMicrosoft acquired a 10% stake in Gigamedia. Internet service provider 31,470,000
Intertainer Interactive systems 56,000,000
VerticalNetMicrosoft acquired a 1.35% stake in VerticalNet. Management solutions 100,000,000
BroadBand Office Communication 25,000,000
EcossMicrosoft acquired a 5% stake in Ecoss. Computer programming 46,000
RealNames
RealNames
RealNames was a company founded in 1997 by Keith Teare. Its goal was to create a multilingual keyword-based naming system for the Internet that would translate keywords typed into the address bar of Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser to Uniform Resource Identifiers, based on the existing...

Microsoft acquired a 20% stake in RealNames
RealNames
RealNames was a company founded in 1997 by Keith Teare. Its goal was to create a multilingual keyword-based naming system for the Internet that would translate keywords typed into the address bar of Microsoft's Internet Explorer web browser to Uniform Resource Identifiers, based on the existing...

.
Internet navigation
MEASAT Broadcast NetworkMicrosoft acquired a 9% stake in MEASAT Broadcast Network. Television broadcasting 100,000,000
Best Buy
Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...

Retail stores 200,000,000
Telewest CommunicationsMicrosoft acquired 22.98% of Telewest Communications. Cable television 2,263,000,000
Blixer Net Online telecommunications
CAIS Internet Internet access 40,000,000
Corel CorporationMicrosoft acquired 24 million preferred shares of Corel Corporation. Software 89,370,000
Chyron Corporation
Chyron Corporation
The Chyron Corporation is a Melville, N.Y.-based company that develops products and services for digital broadcast graphics creation. The company’s solutions, which include the AXIS Graphics online content creation software and order management system and a range of on-air graphics systems, clip...

Microsoft acquired an 8.73% stake in Chyron Corporation
Chyron Corporation
The Chyron Corporation is a Melville, N.Y.-based company that develops products and services for digital broadcast graphics creation. The company’s solutions, which include the AXIS Graphics online content creation software and order management system and a range of on-air graphics systems, clip...

.
Digital graphics 6,000,000
Audible.com
Audible.com
Audible.com is an Internet provider of spoken audio entertainment, information, and educational programming.Audible sells digital audiobooks, radio and TV programs, and audio versions of magazines and newspapers....

Online audio retail 10,000,000
Sendo
Sendo
Sendo was a British Birmingham, England-based manufacturer and supplier of mobile phones founded in 1999. The company went into administration in June 2005 and its technology was bought by Motorola....

Microsoft acquired a 10% stake in Sendo
Sendo
Sendo was a British Birmingham, England-based manufacturer and supplier of mobile phones founded in 1999. The company went into administration in June 2005 and its technology was bought by Motorola....

.
Mobile handset
USA NetworksMicrosoft acquired a 15.4% stake in USA Networks. Television stations
ByteTaxi Software
Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

Microsoft acquired a 1.6% stake in Facebook.
Social network 260,000,000
OKWaveMicrosoft acquired a 10.52% stake in OKWave. On-line community site 2,515,000
ZignalsMicrosoft acquired a 15% stake in Zignals. Online trading

Divestitures

Date Acquirer Target company Target business Acquirer country Value (USD
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

)
References
Steven Ballmer Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

Steven Ballmer acquired 945,000 Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

 shares.
Wholesale computer software 46,200,000
Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

MicrosoftMicrosoft repurchased 1.9% of Microsoft shares. Wholesale computer software 63,750,000
Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

MicrosoftMicrosoft repurchased 3% of Microsoft's common stock. Wholesale computer software 348,000,000
TCI Technology Ventures MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...

TCI Technology Ventures acquired 20% of MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...

.
Internet service provider 125,000,000
Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...

Microsoft acquired the remaining 20% stake that it did not already own in MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...

 from Tele-Communications Inc.
Tele-Communications Inc.
Tele-Communications, Inc. or TCI was a cable television provider in the United States, for much of its history controlled by Bob Magness and John Malone....

Internet service provider 125,000,000
Proginet
Proginet
-History:Proginet Corporation, which was acquired by Tibco Software in 2010, was a systems management software company. It is best known for having developed a breakthrough product in the late 1980s called XCOM, which allowed companies to manage the process of moving bulk data between 26 different...

TransAccess Software 1,740,000
Avid Technology
Avid Technology
Avid Technology, Inc. is an American company specializing in video and audio production technology; specifically, digital non-linear editing systems, management and distribution services. It was created in 1987 and became a publicly traded company in 1993...

Softimage 3-D visualization software 284,295,000
Ticketmaster
Ticketmaster
Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. is an independent American ticket sales and distribution company based in West Hollywood, California, USA, with operations in many countries around the world. In 2010 it merged with Live Nation to become Live Nation Entertainment...

 Online-CitySearch
Citysearch
Citysearch is an online city guide that provides information about businesses in the categories of dining, entertainment, retail, travel, and professional services in cities throughout the United States. Visitors to each of Citysearch's local city guides will find contact information, maps, driving...

MSN Sidewalk Internet city guide 340,000,000
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...

DreamWorks Interactive Computer programs
Envoy Communications Sage Information Consultants Consulting 23,730,000
Jupiter Telecommunications Titus Communications Cable television
Technology Crossover Ventures Expedia, Inc.
Expedia, Inc.
Expedia, Inc. is an American company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington that operates several travel brands including Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, Egencia , TripAdvisor, Expedia Local Expert, Classic Vacations and eLong. Expedia, Inc.’s companies operate more than 90 branded points of...

Technology Crossover Ventures has acquired 6% of Expedia, Inc.
Expedia, Inc.
Expedia, Inc. is an American company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington that operates several travel brands including Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, Egencia , TripAdvisor, Expedia Local Expert, Classic Vacations and eLong. Expedia, Inc.’s companies operate more than 90 branded points of...

Online travel 50,000,000
CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...

MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...

 MoneyCentral
Financial information
USA Networks Expedia, Inc.
Expedia, Inc.
Expedia, Inc. is an American company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington that operates several travel brands including Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, Egencia , TripAdvisor, Expedia Local Expert, Classic Vacations and eLong. Expedia, Inc.’s companies operate more than 90 branded points of...

Online travel 1,372,000,000
Liberty Media
Liberty Media
Liberty Media Corporation is an American media conglomerate and the control is exercised by company Chairman John C. Malone, who owns a majority of the voting shares....

Chofu CATV Cable television 16,000,000
Agency.com
Agency.com
Agency.com is an interactive marketing agency based in New York City with offices worldwide. The company is a part of Omnicom Group Inc. and has approximately 500 employees in eleven offices on three continents...

KPE Inc-Certain Assets
The Reynolds and Reynolds Company
The Reynolds and Reynolds Company
The Reynolds and Reynolds Company has a long history as a private company in the Dayton, Ohio, area - from 1866 to 1961. Reynolds and Reynolds operated as a public company from 1961 to 2006. In 2006, Reynolds and Reynolds merged with Houston-based Universal Computer Systems Inc. .Reynolds and...

MSN Autos-Dealerpoint Business Online auto retail
Perri Croshaw HWW Ltd
HWW Limited
-About:HWW produces, aggregates and syndicates content in several areas, including:...

-Women's Money Magazine
Magazines
Northgate Information Solutions
Northgate Information Solutions
-Early years:The company was founded as CMC, or Computer Machinery Company, in 1969. They were originally distributors and subsequently manufacturers of Key to Disk computer systems made by the US-based Computer Machinery Corporation. The CMC Key to Disk systems were used by major companies and...

PWA Group Software 7,052,000
The Washington Post Company Slate
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...

Online magazine
Ubisoft
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....

 Entertainment
Microsoft Game
Microsoft Game Studios
Microsoft Studios is the video game production wing for Microsoft, responsible for the development and publishing of games for the Xbox, Xbox 360, Games for Windows and Windows Phone platforms. They were established in 2002 as Microsoft Game Studios to coincide with the release of the Xbox, before...

-Sports Games
Sports games
Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

MicrosoftMicrosoft acquired 7.92% of its own common stock outstanding. Wholesale computer software 20,000,000,000
MacDonald Dettwiler
MacDonald Dettwiler
MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. is a Richmond, British Columbia-based Canadian aerospace, information services and products company, employing over 3000 people throughout Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, under the MDA brand name....

Vexcel Canada Mapping software
Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

MicrosoftMicrosoft repurchased 7.92% of its common stock outstanding. Wholesale computer software 36,200,000,000
Phase One Expression Media Digital media asset management software

External links

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