Vice President of Microsoft Surface Panos Panay speaks at a Windows 10 devices event on Oct. 6, 2015, in New York. Image source: Microsoft.

Microsoft (MSFT -1.84%) may be struggling to make up for its missteps in the hardware and mobile computing arenas, but this hasn't scared the nation's biggest and most sophisticated investors. The software company's five largest shareholders control $81 billion worth of its outstanding common stock, equating to an ownership interest of 18.9%.

This is a substantial stake to be sure, but it's nevertheless roughly consistent with other large publicly traded companies, such as Nike (NKE 0.95%) and Aflac (AFL 0.90%):

  • Nike's five biggest shareholders control 22.2% of the apparel giant's outstanding stock. That equates to $17.9 billion worth of Nike shares.
  • Aflac's five biggest stockholders own 22.1% of its stock. The total dollar value of their stakes translates into $5.6 billion worth of Aflac shares.

So, who are Microsoft's five biggest shareholders? You can find the answer to this question in the brief slideshow below.

Data in the slideshow, as well as the ownership data about Nike and Aflac, was sourced from Yahoo! Finance on Nov. 16, 2015.