What businesses does Microsoft own?

Among Microsoft's subsidiaries are Activision Blizzard, LinkedIn, GitHub, and Skype. It's also invested in OpenAI, although it doesn't technically own any part of the AI startup.

Is Microsoft owned by Google?

Microsoft is not owned by Google. The two are intense competitors and have been for a long time. They compete across a range of businesses like cloud computing, enterprise software, digital advertising, hardware, and artificial intelligence.

Is Sony owned by Microsoft?

Sony is not owned by Microsoft. The two are close competitors in gaming. Microsoft owns Xbox and Sony owns Playstation.

What social media does Microsoft own?

Microsoft owns LinkedIn, the professional social network. It acquired it for $26.2 billion in 2016.

What Does Microsoft Own? | The Motley Fool

What Companies Does Microsoft Own?

By Jeremy Bowman – Updated Dec 16, 2025 at 12:55 PM EST

Key Points

Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard boosts its gaming sector, enhancing Xbox operations significantly.
The acquisition of LinkedIn diversified Microsoft's portfolio into social media, leveraging a vast professional network.
Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI aligns with AI advancements, potentially elevating its tech dominance.

What Microsoft (MSFT +1.01%) owns could fill a football field and then some. With the possible exception of Apple (AAPL +0.11%), no company has played a bigger role in shaping the modern computing era from the early days of the personal computer to the AI revolution than Microsoft.

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A graphic showing the logos of the companies that Microsoft owns. — Image source: The Motley Fool.

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The tech giant has made its mark in almost every major transition in information technology, parlaying its dominance in computer operating systems from the early days of DOS into a tech empire that includes its Office software suite and other widely used enterprise software programs; its cloud-computing juggernaut Azure; the Xbox video game system; devices like the Surface; and many other businesses that have come under its umbrella through acquisitions, such as Linkedin.

Microsoft has been enormously profitable throughout its history and has been one of the most valuable companies in the world for more than a generation. That's also made Microsoft a great buy-and-hold stock for investors. Its profits have enabled the company to make a wide range of acquisitions, expanding its business empire. Although not all of them have paid off, many have delivered solid returns for Microsoft and form the foundation of a company at the cutting edge of artificial intelligence (AI) today.

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NASDAQ: MSFT

Microsoft

Today's Change

(1.01%) $3.73

Current Price

$373.10

Key Data Points

Market Cap

$2.8T

Day's Range

$364.15 - $373.25

52wk Range

$344.79 - $555.45

Volume

1.1M

Avg Vol

36M

Gross Margin

68.59%

Dividend Yield

0.93%

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2. LinkedIn, 2016, $26.2 billion (100% ownership)

Satya Nadella has led Microsoft for roughly 10 years, and his acquisition of LinkedIn has unquestionably been one of his biggest moves.

It took Microsoft outside the cozy confines of enterprise software and into social media, an arena dominated by digital advertising titans Meta Platforms (META -0.82%) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL). The purchase was also Microsoft's biggest acquisition at the time.

When the deal was announced, Nadella described the move as a way of uniting LinkedIn's professional network with Microsoft's professional cloud. Microsoft also saw value in LinkedIn's massive dataset on corporate America, especially its employment and recruitment patterns.

Since the acquisition, Microsoft has largely allowed LinkedIn to be independent, avoiding the integration challenges that can sink otherwise promising acquisitions. Jeff Weiner, who was CEO of LinkedIn at the time of the deal, remained in the leadership post through 2020, and LinkedIn has delivered steady growth for Microsoft over the years.

In the second quarter of fiscal 2025, LinkedIn's revenue grew 9%, although Microsoft does not break out other metrics from the social network.

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3. Skype, 2011, $8.5 billion (100% ownership)

Microsoft's 2011 acquisition of Skype was its largest such deal at the time and seemed emblematic of the Steve Ballmer era of missed opportunities, poor strategic decisions, and bad capital allocation.

At the time of the deal, there seemed to be some logic behind the move. Skype was the leader in internet video conferencing, with more than 100 million monthly users, and videoconferencing was gaining adoption in the mobile era.

However, Microsoft never successfully integrated it with its larger suite of software products, the way it has today with Teams, its competitor to Slack. Microsoft also struggled to adequately monetize Skype, which at the time of the deal was roughly breaking even.

Eventually, Microsoft lost the videoconferencing market to Zoom Video Communications (ZM +2.02%), which capitalized on the tech giant's missteps and solved problems that Skype never figured out.

Microsoft announced it was retiring the service in May 2025 and moving users over to Teams.

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5. aQuantive, 2007, $6 billion (100% ownership)

aQuantive was arguably the worst acquisition in Microsoft's history. The deal for the online advertising business was Microsoft's largest acquisition at the time, and the company paid an 85% premium over aQuantive's stock price to buy it.

At the time, Microsoft presented the deal as a crucial component of its ad strategy, coming on the heels of Google's purchase of DoubleClick. However, Microsoft struggled to compete with Google in both search and web-based advertising on partner websites, and Google's search strength gave it a natural advantage.

Chasing after a competitor proved to be a mistake, and in 2012, Microsoft took a $6.2 billion write-down on aQuantive, essentially acknowledging that the business was worthless in Microsoft's hands. It was a huge strategic failure.

Microsoft eventually integrated aQuantive's assets and operations into its own digital advertising business.

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6. OpenAI, 2019-23

Microsoft's relationship with OpenAI could be its most consequential, although it's also its most mysterious. The company has said that it's invested several billion dollars in the ChatGPT-maker, but it's unclear what it actually receives for its investment.

OpenAI also has an unusual corporate structure. The company was founded as a non-profit, but has created a capped-profit company within the larger non-profit entity.

Microsoft has said that the details of its agreement remain confidential, but it doesn't own any portion of OpenAI. It only has a claim to a share of profits.

However, the two companies have a close strategic partnership, and OpenAI's technology and Microsoft's own recognition of its potential are major reasons why Microsoft stock has soared since the launch of ChatGPT and why Microsoft is one of the world's most valuable companies. Most recently, Microsoft participated in OpenAI's funding round in March 2025, in which the start-up raised $40 billion at a valuation of $300 billion.

Expect the relationship to evolve further and for Microsoft to use OpenAI's generative AI technologies to advance its own businesses and strengthen its competitive advantage.

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The bottom line on companies that Microsoft owns

Microsoft subsidiaries complement its sprawling tech empire well, and the acquisitions it's made under Nadella have paid off, although it will take time to render a verdict on the Activision Blizzard deal. Though it's not technically an acquisition, its strategic partnership and investment in OpenAI may have been its smartest move yet.

With Microsoft's market capitalization now around $3 trillion and annual profits around $100 billion, it shouldn't be surprising to see it make more acquisitions down the road, especially given its history of spending to buy companies.

With its sights set on artificial intelligence, cloud computing, enterprise software, and other evolving technologies, Microsoft looks like a good bet to lead the tech industry for another generation. To remain in the lead, it's likely to expand its empire through acquisitions.

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Companies Microsoft owns: FAQ

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About the Author

Jeremy Bowman has been a contributing Motley Fool stock market analyst, covering technology, consumer goods, and macroeconomic trends since 2011. Before The Motley Fool, Jeremy was a newspaper reporter, restaurant manager, and English teacher abroad. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Colorado College and a master’s degree in business administration from American University. One of his Motley Fool headlines was briefly featured on Late Night with Stephen Colbert.

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@TMFBowman

Jeremy Bowman has positions in Meta Platforms and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Zoom Communications. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

What Companies Does Microsoft Own?

Key Points

NASDAQ: MSFT

Key Data Points

2. LinkedIn, 2016, $26.2 billion (100% ownership)

3. Skype, 2011, $8.5 billion (100% ownership)

5. aQuantive, 2007, $6 billion (100% ownership)

6. OpenAI, 2019-23

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What businesses does Microsoft own?

Is Microsoft owned by Google?

Is Sony owned by Microsoft?

What social media does Microsoft own?

What companies does Microsoft own?

1. Activision Blizzard, 2023, $69 billion (100% ownership)

4. GitHub, 2018, $7.5 billion (100% ownership)

5. aQuantive, 2007, $6 billion (100% ownership)

6. OpenAI, 2019-23

Related investing topics

The bottom line on companies that Microsoft owns

FAQ

NASDAQ: MSFT

Key Data Points

2. LinkedIn, 2016, $26.2 billion (100% ownership)

3. Skype, 2011, $8.5 billion (100% ownership)

What companies could Microsoft acquire in the future?