Microsoft turns 50 this Friday, in its half century the company has gone from having two employees -its founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen -, more than a quarter of a million workers worldwide and a stock market capitalization of 2.9 billion dollars.
Gates and Allen, Friends of the Institute, founded on April 4, 1975 Micro-Soft-a combination of microcomputer and software-in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with the aim of helping to fill households and offices with computers.
Five decades later, and achieved by far his first purpose, Microsoft now has its eyes on becoming the leader of artificial intelligence (AI).
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The first steps
His first step took it in 1981, when IBM launched its first personal computer with the MS-DOS 1.0 operating system of Microsoft.
Two years later, Microsoft launched Microsoft Word and in 1985 Microsoft Excel, programs that managed to eclipse their competitors at that time.
Allen left his executive position in Microsoft after being diagnosed with cancer and Gates remained in command.
“That is the most stupid I’ve heard in my life”
As they remember exemployed to the media, it was normal for Gates to complain as if he did not like the work of an employee.
“One of her favorite phrases was’ that’s the stupid thing I’ve heard in my life,” he told Seattle Times Scott Oki, who worked for technology between 1982 and 1992, and who was vice president of sales, marketing and services.
In March 1986, Microsoft went over $ 21 per share, a price that increased to $ 35.50 before the end of the day. Today it exceeds $ 370.
Gates sold 1.6 million dollars in shares and retained a 45 % participation in the company, already his 30 years was already one of the richest people in the United States.
The young executive director celebrated his new fortune paying his mortgage of $ 150,000, according to Fortune in 1986.
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Successes, failures, demands and acquisitions
In its 50 years the company has remained a fundamental pillar of the technological world, despite failures and struggles in court for antitrust cases.
Some of his failures, such as the ‘sympathetic’ assistant ‘clippy’ – which was later not very useful and annoying – are now considered part of modern history. While other technological giant fiascos, such as Windows Phone, directly passed.
Even so, in the balance it is winning their success list: from Windows 95 -which made some fans even queued in stores to buy a copy of the operating system -to the solitary game -created by a company’s fellow -or the Xbox 360 console and the Halo video game -which they placed the company on the map of the video game industry.
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The technological giant has not trembled his pulse to make acquisitions, such as the purchase of the social network oriented in professional LinkedIn careers or the acquisition of the successful video game among the youngest Minecraft.
Microsoft is now among the candidates to buy Tiktok, which faces a prohibition in the United States this Saturday if it is not sold by Bytedance, based in China. Other giants in the sector are also interested in that social network such as Amazon or Oracle.
Bet on AI
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In half a century several leaders have been seen in the company. In 2000, Gates resigned as executive director and Steve Ballmer was appointed president and executive director of the company.
Since 2014 he has been reins of the Titan Satya Nadella, who bunates to make the company an AI leader. Reason why Microsoft has invested billions in this technology, acquiring a participation in Openai, the creators of the popular chatgpt, and then creating their own chatbot, co -pilot.
Despite the alliance with Openai -Microsoft obtains 49 % of the emerging company – the technological titan could announce in the future alliances with other AI companies to get to get the leadership of AI, a career in which Google and Apple also participate in the first position, among others.