ZDNet Asia Top Tech 50 Microsoft www.microsoft.com

This company needs no introduction. What started in 1975 as two college boys' aspiration to turn PCs into useful machines, Microsoft has since blasted its way into becoming a key player in the software industry today.

Bill Gates and childhood friend Paul Allen founded the company on an ambitious dream to transform PCs into machines that could be used anywhere--offices, schools and hospitals, too. Their computing vision was to make jobs more interesting and people more effective workers.

Thirty years later, Microsoft today employs 60,000 people located across offices in 60 locations worldwide and expects to hire 4,400 new employees by the end of the year. The company raked in revenues of US$39.8 billion in fiscal year 2005 ended Jun. 30, and invested an estimated US$6.2 billion on research and development.

Microsoft's sales exceeded US$1 million in 1978, and when the company went public in 1986, you would have forked out US$21 just to own one of its shares. Over 7 million copies of Windows 95 were sold in the first seven weeks of its release. Today, there are more than 600 million Windows users worldwide, and Microsoft's range of products and services has expanded to include game consoles, office productivity suites, server management tools, enterprise applications and instant messaging.

But the software giant faces aggressive competition from open source and arch rival Google, and continues to battle security problems.

However, Microsoft is not resting on its laurels as it continues to make calculated acquisitions and form strategic alliances to strengthen its foothold against Google.

This company is listed in Storage Management, Software Infrastructure, Business Applications, Security, Services, Internet.

Financials

Fiscal year-end June	FY05	FY04	FY03	FY02	FY01
Global full-year revenue (US$millions)	39,788.0	36,835.0	32,187.0	28,365.0	—
Global full-year net income (US$millions)	12,254.0	8,168.0	7,531.0	5,355.0	—

Average year-on-year revenue growth over 4 years	12.0 %
Average year-on-year net income growth over 4 years	33.0 %
Percentage of revenue from Asia	—
Percentage of Asian revenues from channel	—

Operations:

Founded	United States/1975
First Asian office	—
Global employees	59,947
Employees in Asia	5,264
Asian countries: Total 10	China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam
Notes	Data correct as at September 2005. Information was compiled by ZDNet Asia from sources such as official reports, corporate Web sites, and Hoover's. ZDNet Asia strived to get the latest information but does not guarantee the correctness or completeness of the data. The information provided on this site is for general informational purposes only and is not an offer to buy or sell any securities.

	Next Top Tech company in Storage management
	See all Top Tech 50
	Top Asian office location
	Fastest growing companies
	Special Mention: Google, eBay
	Editor's Note

Post your message here  go bill!    Posted by bill jr on November 2, 2005, 01:03 pm  truly impressive    Posted by anonymous on November 2, 2005, 01:06 pm

Related News

	Gates to students: Microsoft wants you - Bill Gates preached the "magic of software" to a packed ballroom at Howard University and said it's up to today's generation of college students to drive innovation in the future.
	Microsoft: Africa doesn't need free software - You can give people free software, but they won't have the expertise to use it, says Microsoft Nigeria's manager.
	Microsoft simplifies code sharing - Company strips down its Shared Source Initiative to three licenses, one of which is modeled on the Mozilla Public License.
	Ballmer: Trusting Vista, battling Google - Microsoft is at the start of "the greatest innovation pipeline we have ever had," CEO says. And no, he doesn't throw chairs.
	More trouble with Microsoft patches - Some Windows 2000 users apparently applied the wrong fix for a critical flaw, leaving their computer vulnerable and the users thinking they patched up.
	MS pushes new Exchange 2003 service pack - Features include delivery of e-mail directly to mobile devices and an authentication protocol Microsoft says will help filter spam.

ZDNet Asia Top Tech categories
Systems | Networking and communications | Storage management | Security | Software Infrastructure | Services | Business applications | Internet services