Short answer: Who owns Microsoft: its shareholders, with no single owner. It trades on Nasdaq as MSFT. Per the 2026 proxy, Vanguard at 7.48% and BlackRock at 7.30% hold the largest blocks. Steve Ballmer is the largest individual at about 4%. Bill Gates holds an estimated 1% or so.
Who owns Microsoft now? Its shareholders do, and no single one of them controls it. The company trades on Nasdaq as MSFT. On September 30, 2026 it had 7,426,426,719 shares outstanding. We find the largest holders among index fund managers: Vanguard with 7.48 percent and BlackRock with 7.30 percent, per the 2026 proxy.
Steve Ballmer is the largest individual holder, and we set out the rest below.
- Vanguard: 555,988,240 shares, 7.48 percent, mostly through index funds.
- BlackRock: 540,020,228 shares, 7.30 percent.
- Other institutions: State Street, Fidelity and Geode, each below the 5 percent line.
- Steve Ballmer: about 333 million shares at his last disclosure, around 4 percent today.
- Bill Gates: an estimated 1 percent; he left the board in March 2020.
- Satya Nadella: 918,226 shares, a small fraction of a percent.
Index-fund giants hold the biggest blocks. Vanguard has 7.48% and BlackRock 7.30%.
They’re the only two holders above 5% in Microsoft’s 2026 proxy statement.
Among individuals, former CEO Steve Ballmer is widely reported as the largest owner, at about 4%.
| Point | What to know |
|---|---|
| Control | Nobody owns a controlling stake. Microsoft has one class of stock, and every share carries one vote |
| Largest holders in the 2026 proxy | Vanguard with 556.0 million shares, 7.48%, and BlackRock with 540.0 million shares, 7.30% |
| Steve Ballmer | Last disclosed about 333 million shares, roughly 4% of the company today |
| Bill Gates | Holds an estimated 1% or so after decades of selling and giving |
| Insiders | All directors and executive officers together own 2,139,607 shares, less than 1% |
Who owns Microsoft in 2026
Millions of shareholders do: index funds, pension funds, mutual funds and individual investors.
The largest owners are asset managers such as Vanguard and BlackRock. They hold shares on behalf of their clients.
No person or company has enough stock to control the company. Day-to-day control rests with the board and CEO Satya Nadella.
The short version fits in one table. Figures come from Microsoft’s 2026 proxy statement, record date September 30, 2026, unless the note says otherwise.
| Owner | Shares | Share of Microsoft | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vanguard Capital Management LLC | 555,988,240 | 7.48% | Largest holder, based on its Schedule 13G of April 30, 2026 |
| BlackRock | 540,020,228 | 7.30% | Second largest, based on its 13G/A of February 13, 2024 |
| Steve Ballmer | about 333 million | about 4% | His last disclosed holding; not reported any more |
| Bill Gates | not disclosed | estimated about 1% | Left the board in 2020; doesn’t file any more |
| All directors and executive officers, 18 people | 2,139,607 | less than 1% | Includes Satya Nadella |
Microsoft ownership structure overview
The ownership is spread across a single class of common stock. Each of the 7.43 billion shares has one vote.
There are no founder shares with extra voting power, and all directors are elected every year.
On the 2026 record date the stock was held of record by 73,581 holders. Millions more hold shares through brokers and funds.
That record-holder number looks small, and that’s normal. Most investors hold shares in “street name” through a broker.
So one record holder, a brokerage’s nominee, can stand for hundreds of thousands of people.
Institutions hold the clear majority of the stock. That covers mutual funds, ETFs, pension plans and insurers.
Individual investors hold the rest, directly or through retirement accounts.
Compare this with Alphabet or Meta. Both have dual-class shares that give founders extra votes per share. Microsoft never had that.
| Shareholder right listed in the proxy |
|---|
| A single class of shares with one vote each |
| Annual election of all directors |
| Majority voting |
| The right for holders of 15% of the shares to call a special meeting |
Microsoft’s proxy statement comes out each October before the December annual meeting. We’d call it the best free source for the largest holders and for insider stakes. It’s published on Microsoft Investor Relations.
Who owns Microsoft: institutional shareholders
Two institutions sit above the 5% reporting line, according to the 2026 proxy.
| Institution | Shares | Stake |
|---|---|---|
| Vanguard Capital Management LLC | 555,988,240 | 7.48% |
| BlackRock | 540,020,228 | 7.30% |
Other large index and active managers each hold smaller stakes. State Street, Fidelity and Geode are among them.
Vanguard, the top shareholder
Vanguard is the largest shareholder, mostly through index funds such as its S&P 500 and total market funds.
Here’s the thing: Vanguard doesn’t pick Microsoft. Its index funds buy every company in the index in proportion to its market value.
So its huge position says more about Microsoft’s size than about any opinion on the business.
The 2026 proxy notes Vanguard reported sole voting power over 73,430,154 shares and sole dispositive power over all 555,988,240. A vote on only a slice of what it can sell, then.
BlackRock, the second largest
BlackRock comes second, again mostly through index products. Its iShares ETFs and institutional mandates are examples.
Its filing shows sole voting power over 487,219,696 shares.
Put the two together, and Vanguard and BlackRock hold roughly 15% of the company. That’s the biggest concentration of any owners.
Other large institutional holders
Below the 5% line the list is long and changes every quarter.
| Names that regularly appear in quarterly 13F filings |
|---|
| State Street, with the SPDR ETFs |
| Fidelity |
| Geode Capital |
| T. Rowe Price |
| Capital Group |
| Norway’s sovereign wealth fund |
Their exact share counts move with fund flows. We’d check a current 13F summary before quoting a number.
Holdings above 5% appear in Schedule 13G filings. Every large manager reports its positions quarterly on Form 13F. Both are free on the SEC’s EDGAR site, under the ticker MSFT.
Who owns Microsoft: individual shareholders
| Person | Holding |
|---|---|
| Steve Ballmer, former CEO | About 333 million shares at his last disclosure, around 4% of the company today |
| Bill Gates, co-founder | A personal stake estimated at around 1% |
| Satya Nadella, current CEO | 918,226 shares, a small fraction of a percent |
Steve Ballmer, the largest individual shareholder
Steve Ballmer joined Microsoft in 1980 as its 30th employee. He ran it as CEO from 2000 to 2014 and left the board in August 2014.
His last insider filings showed about 333 million shares.
He isn’t an officer or director any more and holds less than 5%. So he doesn’t have to report, and today’s figure is an estimate.
Public reports since then say he has kept the stake. That works out to about 4% of today’s share count.
It also brings dividend income of more than $1 billion a year.
Bill Gates, from about 45% to roughly 1%
Bill Gates co-founded Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975. At the 1986 IPO he held roughly 45% of the company.
For three decades he has sold shares and given them away, much of it to fund the Gates Foundation.
He left the board in March 2020. His personal stake isn’t disclosed any more, and public estimates put it at around 1%.
The foundation’s own holdings have shrunk too. Its trust reported in quarterly 13F filings that it cut its Microsoft position sharply during 2025.
In the third quarter alone it went from about 26.2 million shares to about 9.2 million.
A charity needs cash for grants. Keeping most of the endowment in one stock is a risk it chose to reduce.
What current executives hold
Current executives hold small stakes compared with the founders. The 2026 proxy lists these holdings as of September 30, 2026.
| Executive | Role | Shares beneficially owned |
|---|---|---|
| Satya Nadella | Chairman and CEO | 918,226 |
| Amy Hood | CFO | 459,226 |
| Brad Smith | Vice Chair and President | 372,454 |
| Judson Althoff | Executive officer | 74,442 |
| Takeshi Numoto | Chief Marketing Officer | 32,191 |
Each of them holds less than 1%. The entire group of 18 directors and executive officers holds 2,139,607 shares.
Insiders still have plenty of skin in the game. Microsoft’s stock ownership policy requires the CEO to hold shares worth 15 times his base salary.
Who owns Microsoft: ownership changes over time
The ownership has moved from founders to funds.
At the 1986 IPO, Bill Gates, Paul Allen and early employees such as Steve Ballmer held most of the company.
Over forty years the founders sold and donated shares. Paul Allen’s estate sold his stake after his death in 2018, and index funds became the dominant owners.
| Year | What changed |
|---|---|
| 1975 | Bill Gates and Paul Allen found Microsoft |
| 1980 | Steve Ballmer joins as employee number 30 |
| 1986 | IPO on March 13 at $21 per share; Gates holds roughly 45% |
| 2000 | Ballmer becomes CEO; Gates moves to chief software architect |
| 2014 | Satya Nadella becomes CEO; Ballmer leaves the board in August |
| 2018 | Paul Allen dies; his estate later sells his remaining shares |
| 2020 | Gates leaves the board in March |
| 2025 | The proxy lists Vanguard at 8.95% and BlackRock at 7.30% as the only holders above 5% |
| 2026 | The proxy lists Vanguard Capital Management at 7.48% and BlackRock at 7.30%, still the only two above 5% |
Index funds changed everything. As passive investing grew, every S&P 500 and total market fund had to buy Microsoft in proportion to its market value.
Microsoft became one of the largest companies in the world. So those funds now hold more of it than any founder ever will again.
For the product side of the same story, see our history of Microsoft Office through the ages. It covers how the company’s best-known software grew up. The subscription side today? See what Microsoft 365 is.
Voting power and corporate control at Microsoft
The board of directors controls the company. Shareholders elect it every year.
The board appoints the management team, led by Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella.
With one vote per share and no majority owner, no single investor can fire the board or block a merger alone. Big decisions need a majority of votes.
Here’s how voting power looked on the 2026 record date.
| Shareholder | Voting power | Can block major actions alone? |
|---|---|---|
| Vanguard | 7.48% | No |
| BlackRock | 7.30% | No |
| Steve Ballmer | about 4% | No |
| Bill Gates | about 1% | No |
For the 2026 annual meeting, set for December 8, 2026, the board put forward 12 director nominees. Eleven of them are independent.
Large index managers rarely vote against management. They do on issues they consider serious.
They often read proxy adviser reports before voting, such as those from ISS and Glass Lewis.
Microsoft also has a proxy access bylaw. Up to 20 shareholders who together hold 3% of the shares for three years can nominate directors.
What Microsoft’s ownership means in practice
Management has a lot of room to plan long term, because no single shareholder can force a change of course.
The flip side is that accountability comes slowly. It takes many large funds acting together to replace directors.
That usually happens only after a long run of poor results.
| Effect | Detail |
|---|---|
| No boss above the board | No investor can give Satya Nadella orders |
| The board calls the shots | Directors are elected every year and can replace the CEO |
| Passive investors stay mostly passive | Vanguard and BlackRock usually back management |
| Ballmer could matter | About 4% is enough to rally other holders if he ever wanted to, but he has stayed quiet |
For now, cloud and AI growth keep most holders happy. If results ever slip for years, the same structure would make a fast shake-up hard.
What each kind of Microsoft shareholder can do
| Holder | What the rules give them |
|---|---|
| Any shareholder | One vote per share at the annual meeting, and the quarterly dividend |
| Up to 20 holders with 3% of the shares for three years | The right to nominate directors through proxy access |
| Holders of 15% of the shares | The right to call a special meeting |
| A majority of votes | The power to decide director elections and big decisions |
| The board | The power to appoint and replace the CEO |
Set those thresholds next to the stakes in the tables above. The largest holder sits at 7.48%, well below the 15% line on its own.
The two largest holders together reach roughly 15%. Even that is far from a majority.
How to check who owns Microsoft yourself
You don’t have to trust a summary, ours included. The sources are public and free.
- Open Microsoft Investor Relations and find the latest proxy statement. It comes out each October.
- Look for the table of principal shareholders. It names every holder above 5%.
- Look for the table of directors and executive officers. It lists what each insider holds.
- Go to the SEC’s EDGAR site and search for the ticker MSFT.
- Open the Schedule 13G filings for the holders above 5%, and the quarterly 13F reports for the large managers below that line.
For Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates there’s no current filing to read. Their figures rest on the last disclosures and on public estimates.
That’s why we mark them with “about” and “estimated” throughout this page.
What changed between the 2025 and 2026 proxy
Small moves, one of them easy to misread.
| Item | 2025 proxy | 2026 proxy |
|---|---|---|
| Largest holder | The Vanguard Group, 664,882,153 shares, 8.95% | Vanguard Capital Management LLC, 555,988,240 shares, 7.48% |
| BlackRock | 540,020,228 shares, 7.30% | 540,020,228 shares, 7.30%, still from its February 2024 filing |
| Shares outstanding | 7,433,087,554 | 7,426,426,719 |
| Holders of record | 76,483 | 73,581 |
| Directors and executive officers | 2,279,620 shares | 2,139,607 shares |
The Vanguard line is the tricky one. A different Vanguard entity filed the new 13G, on April 30, 2026. So the lower figure comes from a new filing, and we wouldn’t read it as Vanguard dumping the stock. The quarterly 13F reports show what the funds hold right now.
Who owns Xbox, LinkedIn and GitHub: Microsoft does
Same owners, one level down. These brands are Microsoft subsidiaries, so whoever holds MSFT stock owns them too.
| Brand | Microsoft completed the purchase |
|---|---|
| December 8, 2016 | |
| GitHub | October 26, 2018 |
| Nuance | March 4, 2022 |
| Activision Blizzard, the makers of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush | October 13, 2023 |
Xbox itself was never bought. Microsoft built it in-house. Activision Blizzard now sits beside Xbox in the gaming business. ZeniMax Media, the parent of Bethesda? Microsoft announced that deal in September 2020. The dates come from Microsoft’s own facts page.
Edge, Windows, Office 2024 and Azure were built at Microsoft. No separate owner. Same answer for the person searching who owns Microsoft Edge.
Buying Microsoft stock, and what shareholders get
Anyone with a brokerage account can buy the stock under the ticker MSFT on the Nasdaq exchange. Many brokers sell fractional shares too.
Holders get one vote per share at the annual meeting and receive the quarterly dividend.
Holding stock doesn’t give discounts or licenses for Microsoft software. That point surprises people.
A shareholder still buys Windows and Office like everyone else. Say, a Windows 11 Pro key or Office Home and Business 2024.
If you need software and not stock, HypestKey sells genuine keys for Windows and Microsoft Office. We email them instantly after payment.
Our guide to all Microsoft Office versions explains which one fits. Torn between a subscription and a one-time buy? We’d read Microsoft 365 vs Office 2024 next.
Who owns Microsoft: common misreadings
- “Bill Gates owns it.” His stake is estimated at around 1% now.
- “Vanguard chose to bet on it.” Its index funds buy every company in the index.
- “The CEO holds a major stake.” Satya Nadella holds 918,226 shares, a small fraction of a percent.
- “73,581 holders is the full count.” Most investors sit behind brokers in street name.
- “Founders have special votes.” There’s one class of stock, with one vote per share.
- “Shareholders get free software.” They don’t. We look at free Office keys separately.
Quick answers
| Question | Short answer |
|---|---|
| Who is the largest shareholder of Microsoft? | Vanguard, with 555,988,240 shares or 7.48%, according to Microsoft’s 2026 proxy statement. |
| Does Bill Gates still own Microsoft? | He still holds some shares, but far fewer than before. |
| How much of Microsoft does Steve Ballmer own? | Ballmer’s last disclosed holding was about 333 million shares. |
| Is Microsoft publicly traded? | Yes. |
| Does Warren Buffett own Microsoft stock? | No. |
| Who controls Microsoft if no one owns a majority? | The board of directors, elected by shareholders every year. |
| Who owns Xbox and LinkedIn, Microsoft or someone else? | Microsoft. |
Terms used on this page
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Proxy statement | The yearly document sent to shareholders before the annual meeting |
| Record date | The day that fixes the list of holders for a vote |
| Schedule 13G | The filing for holders above 5% |
| Form 13F | The quarterly report of positions by large managers |
| Street name | Shares held through a broker, under the broker’s nominee |
| Index fund | A fund that buys every company in an index by market value |
| Dual-class shares | A structure that gives some shares extra votes; Microsoft doesn’t have it |
| Proxy access | The right of long-term holders to nominate directors |
| Beneficial ownership | Shares a person controls or benefits from, as reported to the SEC |
Who owns Microsoft: more questions
Is it Bill Gates’s company
Not any more in the ownership sense. He left the board in March 2020, and his stake is estimated at around 1%.
Could one fund take over
No. The largest holder has 7.48%, and big decisions need a majority of votes.
Does a share buy me a license
No. A share brings a vote and a dividend. Windows and Office are bought separately, by shareholders too. The license types are in our retail vs OEM vs volume license guide.
Why do the numbers differ between websites
Fund positions move every quarter. Ballmer’s and Gates’s stakes aren’t reported any more, so those figures are estimates.
Microsoft ownership in short
Nobody holds the company outright. Vanguard has the biggest block at 7.48%, and BlackRock follows at 7.30%.
Steve Ballmer is the top individual at about 4%. Bill Gates is down to an estimated 1% after giving most of his fortune away.
Control sits with an elected board and the CEO.
The scattered ownership keeps activists away and lets management think long term. Whether that’s good or bad depends on how much you trust Satya Nadella’s team.
Our sources: Microsoft’s 2026 proxy statement, filed with the SEC on October 21, 2026, plus other public SEC filings. Checked in November 2026.
The next proxy, due in the autumn of 2027, will refresh them.
FAQ
Who is the largest shareholder of Microsoft?
Vanguard, with 555,988,240 shares or 7.48%, according to Microsoft's 2026 proxy statement. BlackRock is second with 540,020,228 shares, or 7.30%. Both hold the stock mainly through index funds for their clients.
Does Bill Gates still own Microsoft?
He still holds some shares, but far fewer than before. Gates had roughly 45% at the 1986 IPO. After decades of selling and donating, public estimates put his personal stake at around 1%. He left the board in March 2020. He doesn't have to report his holding.
How much of Microsoft does Steve Ballmer own?
Ballmer's last disclosed holding was about 333 million shares. That's roughly 4% of the 7.43 billion shares outstanding. He left the board in 2014 and files no updates, so we treat the current figure as an estimate.
Is Microsoft publicly traded?
Yes. Microsoft trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker MSFT. It went public on March 13, 1986 at $21 a share. Anyone with a brokerage account can buy shares today.
Does Warren Buffett own Microsoft stock?
No. Berkshire Hathaway's quarterly 13F filings don't show a Microsoft position. Buffett has said his friendship with Bill Gates made him avoid investing in the company.
Who controls Microsoft if no one owns a majority?
The board of directors, elected by shareholders every year. It appoints the management team, led by Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella. Every share has one vote, so no single investor can control the company alone.
Who owns Xbox and LinkedIn, Microsoft or someone else?
Microsoft. Xbox is Microsoft's own brand, and LinkedIn became part of Microsoft on December 8, 2016. GitHub and Activision Blizzard are Microsoft subsidiaries too. So the same shareholders own them all.