Microsoft’s best-known subsidiaries are LinkedIn, GitHub, Activision Blizzard, Nuance and ZeniMax (Bethesda), all bought outright and folded into its three reporting segments. Its fiscal 2026 10-K lists eight significant subsidiaries as of 30 June 2026, including LinkedIn Corporation and Activision Blizzard, Inc.; it also holds a minority stake in OpenAI Group PBC, which it accounts for as an equity-method investment, not a subsidiary.
Microsoft acquired each of its big subsidiaries in full and reports them inside its segments rather than as separate units: LinkedIn in Productivity and Business Processes, GitHub and Nuance in Intelligent Cloud, Activision Blizzard and ZeniMax in XBOX.
02
What the filing calls significant
Exhibit 21 of the fiscal 2026 10-K lists eight subsidiaries as of 30 June 2026, omitting those that together would not be significant: three Irish operating and finance companies, Microsoft Online, Inc., LinkedIn Corporation, LinkedIn Ireland, Activision Blizzard, Inc. and Activision Publishing, Inc.
03
Some brands keep their name, some do not
LinkedIn, GitHub and Activision Blizzard keep their brands. Nuance's healthcare business is now reported as Health and Life Sciences cloud services (formerly Nuance Healthcare cloud services).
04
Stakes are not subsidiaries
Microsoft's investment in OpenAI is accounted for under the equity method, so OpenAI's results reach Microsoft's income statement as gains or losses, not as revenue.
What changed in 2025-26
OpenAI stake after the recapitalisation
Microsoft said in October 2025 that after OpenAI’s recapitalisation it holds an investment in OpenAI Group PBC valued at about $135 billion, roughly 27 percent on an as-converted diluted basis. Its fiscal 2026 10-K records $6.5 billion of net gains from investments in OpenAI, mainly a dilution gain from that recapitalisation.
Skype retired
Microsoft announced in February 2025 that Skype would remain available only until 5 May 2025, moving users to Microsoft Teams. The page’s old description of Skype as a current subsidiary product is out of date.
Gaming under the XBOX name
In the fiscal 2026 10-K the Gaming line is reported as XBOX, covering hardware, first- and third-party content and Game Pass; Activision Blizzard, acquired on 13 October 2023 for $75.4 billion, is reported in the same More Personal Computing segment.
GitHub and Nuance as AI platforms
The 10-K describes GitHub as a platform where developers incorporate AI and agent-based tools, and Health and Life Sciences cloud services (the former Nuance business) as AI solutions for healthcare.
Microsoft's largest acquisitions (from its 10-K filings)
Activision Blizzard
Completed13 October 2023
Price and where it sits now$75.4 billion; XBOX in More Personal Computing
LinkedIn
Completed8 December 2016
Price and where it sits now$27.0 billion; Productivity and Business Processes
Nuance Communications
Completed4 March 2022
Price and where it sits now$18.8 billion; Health and Life Sciences cloud in Intelligent Cloud
ZeniMax Media (Bethesda)
Completed9 March 2021
Price and where it sits now$8.1 billion; XBOX
GitHub
Completed25 October 2018
Price and where it sits now$7.5 billion stock transaction; Intelligent Cloud
What it means for you
Look for an acquired company inside Microsoft's segments, not as a separate line: LinkedIn sits in Productivity and Business Processes, GitHub in Intelligent Cloud.
Treat claims like '200+ companies owned' with care; the 10-K lists only significant subsidiaries, and acquired brands are often merged or renamed.
If you build on GitHub or LinkedIn, expect product changes to follow Microsoft's AI platform, as the 10-K now describes both in AI terms.
Investors should separate subsidiaries (consolidated revenue) from stakes such as OpenAI (equity-method gains and losses).
For your own deals, note the pattern: buy a large audience, keep the brand, connect it to the shared cloud.
The Business Engineer lens
Microsoft’s big acquisitions each brought a large user base that now runs on its cloud and AI platform, while its most important AI asset, the OpenAI stake, is not a subsidiary at all. The Business Engineer view: in the AI economy, control can come through stakes and compute contracts as much as through ownership.
Its largest acquisitions include LinkedIn, GitHub, Activision Blizzard, Nuance and ZeniMax (Bethesda); all are wholly owned and reported inside its segments.
What was Microsoft's biggest acquisition?
Activision Blizzard, completed on 13 October 2023 for a total purchase price of $75.4 billion, according to Microsoft's 10-K.
Does Microsoft own OpenAI?
No. Microsoft said in October 2025 that it holds roughly 27 percent of OpenAI Group PBC on an as-converted diluted basis, accounted for as an equity-method investment.
Does Microsoft still run Skype?
No. Microsoft said Skype would remain available until 5 May 2025 and moved users to Microsoft Teams.
The complete explainer, cleaned up and reformatted for mobile.
In short
Microsoft made $331.8 billion of revenue in fiscal 2026 (year to June 30, 2026) across three segments: Productivity and Business Processes ($140.0 billion: Microsoft 365, LinkedIn, Dynamics), Intelligent Cloud ($137.8 billion: Azure, GitHub, Nuance) and More Personal Computing ($54.1 billion: Windows, Xbox and Activision Blizzard, Bing, Surface).
Sources: Microsoft Form 10-K for fiscal 2026 (year to June 30, 2026) and 10-Qs (SEC EDGAR). Analysis by The Business Engineer.
How we source: figures on this page come from the company’s own filings (SEC 10-K, 10-Q and earnings releases, or its annual report), with the period stated next to each number. Last refreshed October 2026. Our methodology.
Video: Microsoft, explained in about a minute. Tap for sound. Built from the company’s own filings.
Correction (11 Oct 2026): an earlier section on this page, “Microsoft Subsidiaries in the AI Era”, made unsourced claims and predictions; it has been removed.
Microsoft is among the largest companies on earth, with a diversified portfolio. Microsoft acquired other companies like LinkedIn, GitHub, Skype, and more over the years. Today, Microsoft is a tech empire that spans software, social media, gaming, and more.
Updated 6 October 2026: we refreshed 7 figures on this page, now taken from SEC EDGAR filings. Anything we could not check against a current source keeps its original year, so you can see how old it is.
Latest figures · checked 6 October 2026
Microsoft’s GAAP net income for fiscal year 2026 was $133.7 billion, up 31%. SEC EDGAR filings
Microsoft’s operating income for fiscal year 2026 was $155.2 billion, up 21%. SEC EDGAR filings
In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, Microsoft’s revenue was $90.0 billion, up 18%. SEC EDGAR filings
As of June 30, 2026, Microsoft employed approximately 223,000 people full-time. SEC EDGAR filings
In fiscal year 2026, Microsoft’s Azure revenue passed $100 billion for the first time. SEC EDGAR filings
Microsoft’s Intelligent Cloud segment revenue was $39.3 billion in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, up 32%. SEC EDGAR filings
Revenue in Productivity and Business Processes was $37.8 billion and increased 14%. SEC EDGAR filings
All companies owned by Microsoft refers to the comprehensive list of subsidiaries, acquisitions, and brands under Microsoft Corporation's control as of 2026. This includes major acquisitions like LinkedIn, GitHub, Activision Blizzard, and hundreds of smaller technology companies across gaming, productivity software, cloud services, and artificial intelligence sectors.
Key Differentiator. A comprehensive cloud platform and services.
Integration Strategy. Represents Microsoft’s push into cloud computing, offering infrastructure, platform, and software services to businesses and developers worldwide.
Microsoft 365
Business Category. Productivity and Collaboration Tools
Key Differentiator. Suite of office productivity and collaboration apps.
Integration Strategy. Provides subscription-based access to Microsoft’s popular Office applications and cloud services, serving both businesses and consumers.
Windows
Business Category. Operating Systems and Software
Key Differentiator. Iconic operating system for personal computers.
Integration Strategy. Remains at the core of Microsoft’s software ecosystem, providing a platform for various applications and services.
Xbox
Business Category. Gaming and Entertainment
Key Differentiator. Gaming consoles, games, and online services.
Integration Strategy. Expands Microsoft’s presence in the gaming industry, leveraging a loyal gaming community and offering subscription-based services.
LinkedIn
Business Category. Professional Networking
Key Differentiator. Largest professional networking platform.
Integration Strategy. Enhances Microsoft’s presence in the professional networking space, offering synergies with its cloud and productivity offerings.
GitHub
Business Category. Software Development and Collaboration
Key Differentiator. Leading platform for developers and code sharing.
Integration Strategy. Provides a hub for developers, enabling collaboration and code-sharing, aligning with Microsoft’s developer-focused initiatives.
Microsoft Dynamics
Business Category. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Key Differentiator. Suite of business applications for enterprises.
Integration Strategy. Offers solutions for businesses, including customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software.
Microsoft Research
Business Category. Research and Innovation
Key Differentiator. Conducts research in various technology domains.
Integration Strategy. Drives innovation across Microsoft’s products and services through cutting-edge research and technology development.
Microsoft Edge
Business Category. Web Browsers
Key Differentiator. Modern web browser with integrated features.
Integration Strategy. Represents Microsoft’s entry into the web browser market, enhancing its web-related offerings.
Microsoft Office
Business Category. Office Productivity Suite
Key Differentiator. Suite of office applications and services.
Integration Strategy. Serves as a cornerstone of Microsoft’s productivity ecosystem, providing essential tools for businesses and individuals.
Surface
Business Category. Hardware and Devices
Key Differentiator. Premium line of hardware devices, including laptops and tablets.
Integration Strategy. Showcases Microsoft’s software and services on its own branded hardware, creating a seamless user experience.
Microsoft AI
Business Category. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Key Differentiator. AI and ML technologies and services.
Integration Strategy. Advances Microsoft’s AI capabilities, infusing AI into its products and empowering businesses with AI-driven solutions.
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$133.7 billionMicrosoft's GAAP net income for fiscal year 2026 was $133.7 billion, up 31%.SEC EDGAR filings
$155.2 billionMicrosoft's operating income for fiscal year 2026 was $155.2 billion, up 21%.SEC EDGAR filings
$90.0 billionIn the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, Microsoft's revenue was $90.0 billion, up 18%.SEC EDGAR filings
$100 billionIn fiscal year 2026, Microsoft's Azure revenue passed $100 billion for the first time.SEC EDGAR filings
In one line10 key elements driving Microsoft Subsidiaries: The List Of Companies Owned By Microsoftโs strategic framework
FourWeekMBABusiness EngineerAt a glance
Microsoft's GAAP net income for fiscal year 2026 was $133.7 billion, up 31%.
In fiscal year 2026, Microsoft's Azure revenue passed $100 billion for the first time.
Layout and figures refreshed 6 October 2026. Sources are listed at the end of the article.
Why it mattersFrom the article
Key Highlights
Strategic Acquisitions: Microsoft has strategically acquired prominent companies like LinkedIn, GitHub, and Skype. These acquisitions have played a crucial role in expanding Microsoft’s reach and offerings in various sectors.
Technological Empire: Microsoft’s influence extends across various technological domains, including software development, social media platforms, gaming, and more. Its products and services impact millions of users worldwide.
Software Development: Microsoft is renowned for its software products, such as the Windows operating system and the Microsoft Office suite. These tools are widely used in personal and professional environments.
Social Media Integration: With the acquisition of LinkedIn, Microsoft has ventured into the realm of social media. LinkedIn is a leading professional networking platform that connects millions of professionals globally.
Coding Collaboration: GitHub, another acquisition by Microsoft, is a platform widely used by developers for code collaboration and version control. It has a significant impact on open-source software development.
Cloud Computing: Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, Azure, provides a range of services, including computing, analytics, storage, and networking. It is widely used by businesses for scalable and flexible solutions.
Gaming Industry: Through its Xbox brand, Microsoft has a strong presence in the gaming industry. Xbox consoles and services cater to gamers worldwide, offering entertainment and online gaming experiences.
Innovation and Impact: Microsoft’s innovative products and services have made a significant impact on individuals, businesses, and industries worldwide. Its influence on technology is pervasive and continues to evolve.
The Business Engineer view: Microsoft buys audiences and routes them into its cloud
Source: Microsoft Form 10-K for fiscal 2026 (year to June 30, 2026) and 10-Qs (SEC EDGAR). Analysis by The Business Engineer.
Microsoft’s biggest acquisitions each brought an audience, not just a product: professionals (LinkedIn), developers (GitHub), healthcare and speech customers (Nuance), and gamers (Activision Blizzard, Mojang and ZeniMax). What makes them worth more inside Microsoft is the shared infrastructure underneath.
That infrastructure is now the growth engine. Intelligent Cloud revenue grew 29.7% in fiscal 2026 to $137.8 billion, nearly matching Productivity and Business Processes at $140.0 billion (+15.9%). More Personal Computing, home of Windows and gaming, shrank 1.1%. The company earned $155.2 billion of operating income, a 47% margin.
One holding doesn’t show up as a subsidiary at all: the stake in OpenAI. Its swings run through Microsoft’s GAAP net income, with a $3.1 billion reduction in Q1 fiscal 2026 and a $7.6 billion net gain in Q2, according to Microsoft’s own non-GAAP reconciliation.
The compression: Microsoft’s portfolio is a funnel. Each acquired audience is a new set of users for the same cloud. Compare with Alphabet and Amazon.
Bill Gates was the co-founder and former CEO of Microsoft until 2000, and he was on the board of Microsoft until 2020. However, over the years, Gates sold various stakes in Microsoft and diversified away from it. As of 2019, Gates had a 1.34% stake in Microsoft, which he might still own, valued at about $25 billion.
Major shareholders comprise co-founder Bill Gates, who stepped down from the company’s board in 2020, which is why these shares are no longer publicly reported. In 2019, Gates still owned a stake of 103 million stocks, which accounted for 1.34% of the company’s ownership (worth over $23 billion in January 2023).
In 2023, on nearly $212 billion in revenue, Microsoft generated over $72 billion in profits. The company had over $111 billion in liquid assets (which can be easily converted into cash).
Microsoft is among the largest companies on earth, with a diversified portfolio. Microsoft acquired other companies like LinkedIn, GitHub, Skype, and more over the years. Today, Microsoft is a tech empire that spans software, social media, gaming, and more.
In 2023, Google’s search advertising machine, generated over 175 billion dollars. Whereas Microsoft’s Bing generated 12.2 billion dollars. Thus, as of 2023, Google’s search advertising machine is over 14x larger than Microsoft’s search advertising machine.
As of 2023-4, Satya Nadella had 800,667, valued at over $300 million at Microsoft’s current market value. Nadella also got a $2.5 million base salary in 2022, plus $39.23 million in stock awards and over $6.4 million in non-stock incentives, for a total of $48.5 million in 2023. Nadella sold hundreds of millions of dollars of Microsoft stocks in the last ten years, making him a centi-millionaire. In 2023, 95% of Nadella’s salary was performance-based, whereas only about 5% comprised a base salary.
Microsoftโs first acquisition in 1987, Forethought, was the developer of a presentation program that would later become PowerPoint. Since then, the company has made an average of six purchases every year, with fourteen of those exceeding the $1 billion mark. Today’s Microsoft business model spans various segments thanks to an acquisition strategy, which saw Microsoft involved in multiple acquisitions.
Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. With over $110 billion in revenues in 2018, Office Products and Windows are still the main products. Yet the company also operates in Gaming (Xbox), Search Advertising (Bing), Hardware, LinkedIn, Cloud, and more.
Microsoft has a diversified businessmodel, spanning from Office to gaming (with Xbox), LinkedIn, search (with Bing), and enterprise services (with GitHub). In 2023, Microsoft made almost $212 billion in revenues, of which almost $80 billion came from Server products and cloud services, and almost $49 billion came from Office products and cloud services. Windows generated $21.5 billion, Gaming generated over $15.4 billion, LinkedIn over $15 billion, and search advertising (through Bing) over $12 billion. Enterprise (GitHub) generated $7.7 billion, and devices (PC) generated $5.5 billion.
Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft is a revolutionary company in the world of personal computing. The company designs and manufactures software, hardware, operating systems, apps, and devices. Indeed, Windows and Microsoft Office are staples in billions of homes worldwide.
Microsoft has a product-type divisional organizational structure based on functions and engineering groups. As the company scaled over time, it also became more hierarchical while maintaining its hybrid approach between functions, engineering groups, and management.
OpenAI is an artificial intelligence research laboratory that transitioned into a for-profit organization in 2019. The corporate structure is organized around two entities: OpenAI, Inc., which is a single-member Delaware LLC controlled by OpenAI non-profit, And OpenAI LP, which is a capped, for-profit organization. The OpenAI LP is governed by the board of OpenAI, Inc (the foundation), which acts as a General Partner. At the same time, Limited Partners comprise employees of the LP, some of the board members, and other investors like Reid Hoffmanโs charitable foundation, Khosla Ventures, and Microsoft, the leading investor in the LP.
OpenAI has built the foundational layer of the AI industry. With large generative models like GPT-3 and DALL-E, OpenAI offers API access to businesses that want to develop applications on top of its foundational models while being able to plug these models into their products and customize these models with proprietary data and additional AI features. On the other hand, OpenAI also released ChatGPT, developing around a freemium model. Microsoft also commercializes opener products through its commercial partnership.
OpenAI and Microsoft partnered up from a commercial standpoint. The history of the partnership started in 2016 and consolidated in 2019, with Microsoft investing a billion dollars into the partnership. It’s now taking a leap forward, with Microsoft in talks to put $10 billion into this partnership. Microsoft, through OpenAI, is developing its Azure AI Supercomputer while enhancing its Azure Enterprise Platform and integrating OpenAI’s models into its business and consumer products (GitHub, Office, Bing).
Stability AI is the entity behind Stable Diffusion. Stability makes money from our AI products and from providing AI consulting services to businesses. Stability AI monetizes Stable Diffusion via DreamStudio’s APIs. While it also releases it open-source for anyone to download and use. Stability AI also makes money via enterprise services, where its core development team offers the chance to enterprise customers to service, scale, and customize Stable Diffusion or other large generative models to their needs.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
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