Companies Owned by Microsoft (2026)

What does it mean that Microsoft is a Delaware company?

Microsoft Corporation is incorporated in Delaware. That single fact shapes far more than most people realize. While Microsoft’s campuses, executives, and the bulk of its workforce sit in Redmond, Washington, its legal home — the jurisdiction whose statutes govern its charter, its board of directors, and the rights of its shareholders — is the small state of Delaware. When you read about a Microsoft acquisition, a merger agreement, or a shareholder vote, the document underneath it is almost always written to be interpreted under Delaware law.

This is not unusual; it is the norm. A large majority of US public companies, and a striking share of the country’s biggest names, choose Delaware as their state of incorporation. For a company like Microsoft that holds dozens of subsidiaries and completes large acquisitions on a regular basis, Delaware’s settled corporate law and specialized business court remove a great deal of uncertainty. The same legal framework that gives a trillion-dollar parent its predictability is available to a one-person startup through a Delaware LLC.

In other words, the gap between Microsoft and a solo founder is one of scale, not of legal access. Both can stand on the same Delaware foundation. The rest of this page walks through the brands Microsoft genuinely owns, flags a few that people wrongly assume it owns, and connects the whole picture back to how you can form your own entity in the same state.

Which companies does Microsoft actually own?

Microsoft’s portfolio of wholly owned subsidiaries spans developer tools, professional networking, gaming, and healthcare AI. The acquisitions below are all confirmed and closed — each one made Microsoft the parent company, even where the acquired brand kept its own name and leadership.

• GitHub — acquired in 2018 for roughly $7.5 billion in stock. The code-hosting platform runs as an independent-feeling subsidiary with its own brand, but Microsoft is its parent.
• LinkedIn— acquired in 2016 for about $26.2 billion in cash, one of Microsoft’s largest deals. LinkedIn remains a distinct product under Microsoft ownership.
• Activision Blizzard — the acquisition closed in October 2023 in a deal valued near $69 billion, bringing Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and Candy Crush under Microsoft.
• Mojang Studios — maker of Minecraft, acquired in 2014 for about $2.5 billion.
• ZeniMax Media / Bethesda — acquired in 2021 for roughly $7.5 billion, which brought Bethesda Game Studios and id Software (and franchises like The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Doom) into Microsoft.
• Nuance Communications — the speech and healthcare-AI company, acquired for about $19.7 billion in a deal completed in 2022.

These are the headline names, but they are not the whole list. Microsoft’s full subsidiary roster — disclosed in its SEC filings — also includes numerous finance, operations, and regional entities incorporated in Delaware, Ireland, and elsewhere. Public filings only itemize the subsidiaries large enough to be considered “significant,” so the true count of legal entities under Microsoft is larger than any short brand list suggests.

It is worth noting how Microsoft tends to operatewhat it owns, because it explains why so many of these names still feel independent. GitHub still looks and behaves like GitHub; LinkedIn still runs as LinkedIn; Mojang still ships Minecraft under its own banner. Microsoft generally preserves the acquired brand, leadership, and product culture rather than rebranding everything as “Microsoft something.” That is a deliberate strategy — the value in GitHub or LinkedIn lives partly in the trust their communities place in the name — but it can mislead casual observers into thinking the brands are still independent companies. They are not. Each is a wholly owned subsidiary whose financial results consolidate into Microsoft’s, and whose ultimate decision-making authority sits with Microsoft Corporation in Redmond and, legally, in Delaware.

The dollar figures attached to these deals also tell a story about why structure matters. LinkedIn at roughly $26.2 billion and Activision Blizzard at near $69 billion were among the largest technology acquisitions in history. A transaction of that size involves shareholder votes, board approvals, regulatory clearances across multiple countries, and detailed merger agreements — all of which lean on a predictable body of corporate law to keep the deal from unraveling. That is one of the clearest reasons large acquirers favor Delaware: when billions of dollars and thousands of jobs ride on a contract, you want the law governing it to be settled and well understood.

What gaming studios and brands does Microsoft own?

Gaming is where Microsoft’s ownership tree branches most widely, because two of its biggest acquisitions — ZeniMax/Bethesda and Activision Blizzard — each brought a cluster of studios. Through Microsoft Gaming and Xbox Game Studios, Microsoft owns developers including Mojang Studios (Minecraft), Bethesda Game Studios, id Software, Arkane, and others, alongside the Activision, Blizzard, and King teams.

A word of caution on this category: studio names, internal structures, and even which studios remain open change over time. The gaming industry reorganizes frequently, and Microsoft has restructured parts of its gaming division more than once. So while the franchises — Halo, Minecraft, Doom, Fallout, Call of Duty — are clearly Microsoft-owned, the exact studio map at any given moment is best confirmed against Microsoft’s current disclosures rather than a snapshot. We have deliberately avoided listing every studio to avoid stating something that may have shifted.

What matters for this page is the legal point: each of those studios is a subsidiary whose ultimate parent is a Delaware-incorporated corporation. The ownership chain that ends at Microsoft Corporation runs through Delaware law — the same body of law a founder taps when they form a Delaware LLC for a much smaller venture.

Does Microsoft own OpenAI or ChatGPT?

This is the single most common ownership mistake people make about Microsoft, so it deserves a direct answer: no, Microsoft does not own OpenAI, and it does not own ChatGPT. Microsoft is OpenAI’s largest investor and a deep technology and cloud partner, which is very different from being its parent company.

Following OpenAI’s 2025 reorganization into a public benefit corporation, Microsoft has been reported to hold roughly a 27% economic stake. But it does not control OpenAI’s board — the OpenAI Foundation appoints the directors — and OpenAI is not consolidated as a Microsoft subsidiary. The relationship is best described as a major strategic investment and partnership, not ownership. If a list anywhere tells you “Microsoft owns ChatGPT,” treat that list with caution; the legal reality is an equity stake and a commercial partnership.

What is Microsoft commonly but wrongly assumed to own?

Because Microsoft is so visible, people routinely attach brands to it that it does not actually own. Getting this right matters — both for accuracy and as a reminder that “partners with” and “invests in” are not the same as “owns.” The table below separates the two.

The pattern is consistent: a partnership, a supply relationship, or a minority investment often gets mistaken for ownership. When you research any parent company, the reliable test is whether the brand is consolidated as a subsidiary in the parent’s financial filings — not whether the two companies do business together. Microsoft does business with countless firms it does not own.

A related lesson sits with Skype, which shows how ownership and a product’s life cycle are two different things. Microsoft did genuinely own Skype — it acquired the company in 2011 for about $8.5 billion in cash, and for years Skype sat squarely inside Microsoft’s consumer-communications portfolio. Then, in 2025, Microsoft retired the consumer Skype service and steered users toward Microsoft Teams instead. So the historically correct answer is “yes, Microsoft owned Skype,” but the present-tense product no longer operates the way it once did. This is exactly why dates and tense matter when you describe a parent company’s holdings: ownership can persist on paper even as a product is wound down, and a brand can vanish from the market without the parent ever “selling” it. We flag it so the picture stays honest rather than frozen at the moment of acquisition.

The broader point of this section is a method, not just a list. To know whether a company truly owns a brand, look for one of three signals: the brand appears as a consolidated subsidiary in the parent’s audited financial statements; the acquisition was formally announced and closed(not merely agreed or rumored); or the parent controls the brand’s board and economics outright. A press partnership, a co-marketing deal, a reseller arrangement, or a minority equity stake fails that test — which is precisely why OpenAI belongs in the “not owned” column despite the depth of its tie to Microsoft. Apply the same three signals to any “companies owned by X” claim you read, including ones about Microsoft, and most of the common errors fall away on their own.

Why does Delaware sit underneath all of this?

Step back from the brand names and a structural fact stands out: the legal glue holding Microsoft’s acquisitions together is Delaware corporate law. Delaware’s Court of Chancery hears business disputes without juries, decided by judges who specialize in corporate matters, and produces a deep, citable body of precedent. For a parent running frequent multi-billion-dollar deals, that predictability is worth a great deal — it makes outcomes easier to forecast and contracts easier to enforce.

Delaware also offers structural flexibility and a respected, business-literate government that processes filings efficiently. These are the same reasons a first-time founder picks Delaware: not because they expect a courtroom battle, but because they want their company to live in a well-understood, widely recognized legal system that banks, investors, and partners take seriously. Our Delaware LLC for non-residents guide walks through how founders outside the US tap that same system, and our how it works page lays out the steps end to end.

There is also a recognition effect that compounds over time. Because so many serious companies — Microsoft among them — incorporate in Delaware, the state has become a kind of shorthand for legitimacy. Banks, payment processors, suppliers, and prospective investors see a Delaware entity and immediately understand the rules it plays by. For a non-resident founder who cannot rely on a local reputation or a US credit history, that built-in credibility is genuinely useful: it lowers friction at exactly the moments — opening an account, signing a contract, taking on a partner — where an unfamiliar entity type would invite extra questions.

The takeaway: you do not need Microsoft’s budget to benefit from Microsoft’s choice of jurisdiction. The Delaware system is open at the bottom of the market as much as the top. The franchise tax a solo founder pays is a flat $300 a year; the legal precedent that protects their LLC’s structure is the very same case law that a Fortune 500 board relies on. Few areas of business law are this democratic — the same front door serves the smallest and the largest companies in America.

How does a founder form a Delaware LLC the way these giants are structured?

Microsoft’s subsidiaries are mostly corporations, but the entry point for an individual founder is usually a Delaware LLC, which is simpler and lighter to run. The process does not require a US SSN, visa, or address, and it follows a predictable order.

• Name and structure. Confirm an available Delaware name and decide whether you are a single owner or have co-founders.
• Certificate of Formation. We file with the Delaware Division of Corporations and your LLC legally exists in about 48 hours, with a registered agent included for year one.
• EIN. We submit Form SS-4 to the IRS without an SSN; for non-resident applicants this takes 2 to 4 weeks. See our EIN for a Delaware LLC guide.
• Banking and payments. With the EIN, you apply for US business banking (usually 1 to 5 business days after the EIN) and, if you sell online, a Stripe account. Approval is always the bank’s or processor’s decision, so we help you apply to more than one if the first declines.

The whole sequence runs remotely. You will not be acquiring GitHub, but you will be standing on the same Delaware legal foundation, with a clean US entity banks and partners recognize. A practical tip drawn from how the larger world works: keep your details identical across every document — your name, the LLC name, and the address should match on your ID, your formation paperwork, your EIN application, and your bank application. Mismatches are the single most common reason a banking or payment application stalls, and they are entirely avoidable. We sequence the steps in the right order and keep the details consistent so the downstream approvals go smoothly, then track your compliance dates afterward.

One more contrast worth drawing: an LLC and a corporation are not the same tool. Microsoft’s acquisitions are overwhelmingly corporations, because corporate structure suits public ownership, stock-based deals, and venture investment. A single founder usually wants an LLC instead — it is simpler to run, has no shareholders or board to manage, and is taxed as a pass-through by default. If your plan involves raising outside money down the road, you can convert or form a corporation later; many founders start as an LLC and revisit the structure only once an investor actually requires it.

What does it cost to form and run a Delaware LLC?

Our service is a single flat fee of $397, and the Delaware state filing fee is already included — there is no separate state charge to add on. That one payment covers the Certificate of Formation, the EIN application, a registered agent for year one, your operating agreement, US bank and Stripe application support, and compliance tracking. Going forward, the main state obligation is Delaware’s LLC franchise tax.

A point worth stressing: the Delaware LLC franchise tax is a flat $300 per year, due June 1beginning in your second year, and there is no annual report for an LLC. The complicated “authorized shares” and “assumed par value” calculation methods you may read about apply to corporations only — never to LLCs. Miss the June 1 deadline and Delaware adds a $200 penalty plus 1.5% interest per month, which is why we track the date for you. For the full breakdown, see our Delaware franchise tax and Delaware LLC cost pages.

This is also where Microsoft’s entities and yours genuinely diverge in mechanics, and it is worth being precise so you are not misled by figures meant for a different entity type. The eye-watering franchise-tax numbers you sometimes see quoted for Delaware — figures running into tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars — belong to corporationswith large share counts, calculated under the “authorized shares” or “assumed par value capital” methods. Those methods do not apply to LLCs at all. An LLC’s Delaware tax is the flat $300, full stop, regardless of revenue, members, or how the business performs. A first-time founder should never see a four- or five-figure Delaware franchise tax bill, and if a calculator suggests otherwise it is almost certainly applying corporate rules to an LLC by mistake.

What tax filings does a foreign-owned Delaware LLC face?

If you are a non-US person who owns a single-member Delaware LLC treated as a disregarded entity, the filing you must not miss is Form 5472, attached to a pro forma Form 1120. It reports reportable transactions between you and your LLC, such as capital you put in. The penalty for failing to file under IRC 6038A is $25,000, and the return is due April 15 (extendable with Form 7004). Our Form 5472 for Delaware LLCs guide covers the detail, and our Delaware LLC taxes overview puts it in context.

Whether you owe US income tax is a separate, fact-specific question that turns on whether your activity is a US trade or business and on any applicable tax treaty — confirm your own position with a qualified CPA rather than relying on a general rule. And if your ambitions run toward raising venture capital one day, note that investors usually expect a Delaware C-Corprather than an LLC, which is the structure most of Microsoft’s acquisitions themselves used.

A note on beneficial ownership reporting, since founders ask about it constantly. Reporting under the Corporate Transparency Act has changed significantly and remains in flux. A March 2025 FinCEN interim final rule removed the BOI reporting obligation for US-formed domestic reporting companies; under that rule, only certain foreign reporting companies registered to do business in the US must report, and US persons are generally exempt from providing their information. Because the rules may shift again, treat no summary as final — confirm the current FinCEN position at the source or with a professional before relying on your status. We monitor these changes and flag them, but the duty to file if required ultimately rests with the owner. Notably, none of this changes the much older, stable requirement around Form 5472 for foreign-owned LLCs described above; the two are separate regimes that founders sometimes conflate.

What is the practical lesson from Microsoft’s structure?

Microsoft owns GitHub, LinkedIn, Activision Blizzard, Mojang, Bethesda, id Software, and Nuance — real, confirmed subsidiaries — and it invests in, but does not own, OpenAI. Beneath every one of those relationships is a question of legal structure, and for the parent that question is answered in Delaware.

You can use the exact same answer. A Delaware LLC gives a founder anywhere in the world a recognized US legal home, formed in about 48 hours, with an EIN available without an SSN and US banking shortly after. We serve founders from 40+ countries, and the price is a flat $397, all-inclusive. The difference between you and Microsoft is the size of the business — not the strength of the legal foundation you build it on.

Many of these companies chose Delaware for the same reasons founders do today — the Court of Chancery, flexible LLC statutes, and strong privacy protections. Form your Delaware LLC for $397, all-inclusive, in 48 hours. Form your Delaware LLC → | Read the complete Delaware LLC guide →