| | 12345678 0 View all answers Q. | | Does Microsoft pay a dividend? |
A. | | Microsoft pays a quarterly dividend of $0.23 per share. Read the Dividend FAQ for more information. |
Q. | | What is Microsoft's ticker symbol? |
A. | | Our common stock ticker symbol is MSFT. Microsoft common shares are traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market. |
Q. | | What exchange does Microsoft stock trade on? |
A. | | Microsoft common shares are traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market. The ticker symbol is MSFT. |
Q. | | How can I get the current Microsoft stock price? |
A. | | MSN® Money can provide a 15 minute delayed price, as well as other information regarding Microsoft stock. |
Q. | | When was Microsoft's initial public offering (IPO)? |
A. | | Microsoft went public March 13, 1986 at $21.00 per share. |
Q. | | What was the offering price at Microsoft's initial public offering (IPO)? |
A. | | The offering price was $21.00 per share at the IPO on March 13, 1986. |
Q. | | Who should I contact regarding my stock certificate(s)? |
A. | | You should contact Microsoft's transfer agent, American Stock Transfer, by one of these methods: • Phone: (800) 285-7772 option 1 • Address: American Stock Transfer & Trust Company P.O. Box 2362 New York, NY 10272-2362 |
Q. | | What is Microsoft's CUSIP number? |
Q. | | When is the next annual shareholder meeting? |
A. | | The date for the 2013 Annual Meeting of Shareholders has yet to be determined. The meeting is typically held in November is the Seattle area. |
Q. | | When was the last annual shareholder meeting? |
A. | | The 2012 Annual Meeting of Shareholders was held on November 28, 2012 at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, WA. Listen to the Webcast |
Q. | | Do you issue preferred stock? |
A. | | Microsoft no longer offers preferred shares. |
Q. | | How many Microsoft shares are outstanding? |
A. | | As of January 18, 2013, there were 8,376,244,910 shares of common stock outstanding. |
Q. | | Where can I get information on the company? |
Q. | | Where can I get information about Microsoft's Board of Directors? |
Q. | | Who is Microsoft's independent auditor? |
A. | | Microsoft's independent auditor is Deloitte & Touche. |
Q. | | Where can I get company historical information? |
Q. | | What are Microsoft's values and mission? |
A. | | Microsoft's values and mission, as well as how we intend to deliver on our mission, are outlined on our Mission and Values page. |
Q. | | Where can I learn about the company culture? |
A. | | Information about our company culture and other corporate topics can be found on our Who We Are page. |
Q. | | Where can I learn about what it's like to work at Microsoft? |
Q. | | Where can I get employment information? |
A. | | Lots of information is available at the jobs site. |
Q. | | What year and where was Microsoft incorporated? |
A. | | Microsoft was incorporated in the state of Washington on June 25, 1981; reincorporated in the state of Delaware on September 19, 1986; and reincorporated in the state of Washington on November 1, 1993. |
Q. | | What is Microsoft's full-time worldwide headcount? |
Q. | | What companies has Microsoft invested in or acquired? |
Q. | | Is it possible for a shareholder to tour the Microsoft campus? |
Q. | | I'm a shareholder and I need product support. Who do I contact? |
Q. | | Does Microsoft have a direct stock purchase plan or a dividend reinvestment plan? |
A. | | American Stock Transfer, Microsoft's transfer agent, administers a direct stock purchase plan and a dividend reinvestment program for the company. To find out more about these programs you may contact AST directly at (800) 285-7772, Option 1, between the hours of 5 A.M. and 4 P.M. Pacific Time, Monday through Thursday, and 5 A.M. and 2 P.M. Pacific Time on Fridays. Alternatively, you can the view program online by going to AST’s Web site. |
Q. | | Does Microsoft pay a quarterly dividend? |
Q. | | When is the quarterly dividend record date? |
A. | | The quarterly dividend is payable to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 14, 2013. |
Q. | | What is the ex-dividend date for the quarterly dividend? |
A. | | The ex-dividend date for the dividend is February 19, 2013. |
Q. | | What is the quarterly dividend payable date? |
A. | | The quarterly dividend payable date is February 21, 2013. |
Q. | | What is Microsoft's dividend history? |
A. | | This table lists the dividend payments, amounts, and key dates: Quarterly Dividend Dividend Period | Amount | Announcement Date | Ex-Dividend Date | Record Date | Payable Date | FY2013 Q2 | $0.23 | Nov 28, 2012 | Feb 19, 2013 | Feb 21, 2013 | Mar 14, 2013 | FY2013 Q1 | $0.23 | Sept 18, 2012 | Nov 13, 2012 | Nov 15, 2012 | Dec 13, 2012 | FY2012 Q4 | $0.20 | Jun 13, 2012 | Aug 14, 2012 | Aug 16, 2012 | Sept 13, 2012 | FY2012 Q3 | $0.20 | Mar 13, 2012 | May 15, 2012 | May 17, 2012 | Jun 14, 2012 | FY2012 Q2 | $0.20 | Dec 14, 2011 | Feb 14, 2012 | Feb 16, 2012 | Mar 8, 2012 | FY2012 Q1 | $0.20 | Sept 20, 2011 | Nov 15, 2011 | Nov 17, 2011 | Dec 8, 2011 | FY2011 Q4 | $0.16 | Jun 15, 2011 | Aug 16, 2011 | Aug 18, 2011 | Sept 8, 2011 | FY2011 Q3 | $0.16 | Mar 14, 2011 | May 17, 2011 | May 19, 2011 | Jun 9, 2011 | FY2011 Q2 | $0.16 | Dec 15, 2010 | Feb 15, 2011 | Feb 17, 2011 | Mar 10, 2011 | FY2011 Q1 | $0.16 | Sept 21, 2010 | Nov 16, 2010 | Nov 18, 2010 | Dec 9, 2010 | FY2010 Q4 | $0.13 | Jun 16, 2010 | Aug 17, 2010 | Aug 19, 2010 | Sept 9, 2010 | FY2010 Q3 | $0.13 | Mar 8, 2010 | May 18, 2010 | May 20, 2010 | Jun 10, 2010 | FY2010 Q2 | $0.13 | Dec 9, 2009 | Feb 16, 2010 | Feb 18, 2010 | Mar 11, 2010 | FY2010 Q1 | $0.13 | Sep 18, 2009 | Nov 17, 2009 | Nov 19, 2009 | Dec 10, 2009 | FY2009 Q4 | $0.13 | Jun 10, 2009 | Aug 18, 2009 | Aug 20, 2009 | Sep 10, 2009 | FY2009 Q3 | $0.13 | Mar 9, 2009 | May 19, 2009 | May 21, 2009 | Jun 18, 2009 | FY2009 Q2 | $0.13 | Dec 10, 2008 | Feb 17, 2009 | Feb 19, 2009 | Mar 12, 2009 | FY2009 Q1 | $0.13 | Sep 22, 2008 | Nov 18, 2008 | Nov 20, 2008 | Dec 11, 2008 | FY2008 Q4 | $0.11 | Jun 11, 2008 | Aug 19, 2008 | Aug 21, 2008 | Sep 11, 2008 | FY2008 Q3 | $0.11 | Mar 17, 2008 | May 13, 2008 | May 15, 2008 | Jun 12, 2008 | FY2008 Q2 | $0.11 | Dec 19, 2007 | Feb 19, 2008 | Feb 21, 2008 | Mar 13, 2008 | FY2008 Q1 | $0.11 | Sep 12, 2007 | Nov 13, 2007 | Nov 15, 2007 | Dec 13, 2007 | FY2007 Q4 | $0.10 | Jun 27, 2007 | Aug 14, 2007 | Aug 16, 2007 | Sep 13, 2007 | FY2007 Q3 | $0.10 | Mar 26, 2007 | May 15, 2007 | May 17, 2007 | Jun 14, 2007 | FY2007 Q2 | $0.10 | Dec 20, 2006 | Feb 13, 2007 | Feb 15, 2007 | Mar 8, 2007 | FY2007 Q1 | $0.10 | Sep 13, 2006 | Nov 14, 2006 | Nov 16, 2006 | Dec 14, 2006 | FY2006 Q4 | $0.09 | Jun 21, 2006 | Aug 15, 2006 | Aug 17, 2006 | Sep 14, 2006 | FY2006 Q3 | $0.09 | Mar 27, 2006 | May 15, 2006 | May 17, 2006 | Jun 8, 2006 | FY2006 Q2 | $0.09 | Dec 14, 2005 | Feb 15, 2006 | Feb 17, 2006 | Mar 9, 2006 | FY2006 Q1 | $0.08 | Sep 22, 2005 | Nov 15, 2005 | Nov 17, 2005 | Dec 8, 2005 | FY2005 Q4 | $0.08 | Jun 15, 2005 | Aug 15, 2005 | Aug 17, 2005 | Sep 08, 2005 | FY2005 Q3 | $0.08 | Mar 23, 2005 | May 16, 2005 | May 18, 2005 | Jun 09, 2005 | FY2005 Q2 | $0.08 | Dec 08, 2004 | Feb 15, 2005 | Feb 17, 2005 | Mar 10, 2005 | FY2005 Q1 | $0.08 | Sep 15, 2004 | Nov 15, 2004 | Nov 17, 2004 | Dec 02, 2004 | Special | $3.00 | Jul 20, 2004 | Nov 15, 2004 | Nov 17, 2004 | Dec 02, 2004 | FY2004 Q4 | $0.08 | Jul 20, 2004 | Aug 23, 2004 | Aug 25, 2004 | Sep 14, 2004 |
Annual Dividend Dividend Period | Amount | Announcement Date | Ex-dividend Date | Record Date | Payable Date | 2003 | $0.08 | Jan 16, 2003 | Feb 19, 2003 | Feb 21, 2003 | Mar 7, 2003 | 2004 | $0.16 | Sep 12, 2003 | Oct 15, 2003 | Oct 17, 2003 | Nov 7, 2003 |
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Q. | | Will there be a stock split? |
Q. | | When has Microsoft common stock split? |
A. | | This chart summarizes Microsoft's nine common stock splits since the initial public offering on March 13, 1986: Payable Date | Type of Split* | Closing Price Before | Closing Price After | September 18, 1987 | 2 for 1 | $114.50 (Sep 18) | $53.50 (Sep 21) | April 12, 1990 | 2 for 1 | $120.75 (Apr 12) | $60.75 (Apr 16) | June 26, 1991 | 3 for 2 | $100.75 (Jun 26) | $68.00 (Jun 27) | June 12, 1992 | 3 for 2 | $112.50 (Jun 12) | $75.75 (Jun 15) | May 20, 1994 | 2 for 1 | $97.75 (May 20) | $50.63 (May 23) | December 6, 1996 | 2 for 1 | $152.875 (Dec 6) | $81.75 (Dec 9) | February 20, 1998 | 2 for 1 | $155.13 (Feb 20) | $81.63 (Feb 23) | March 26, 1999 | 2 for 1 | $178.13 (Mar 26) | $92.38 (Mar 29) | February 14, 2003 | 2 for 1 | $48.30 (Feb 14) | $24.96 (Feb 18) |
*Type of split: 2 for 1 = One additional share for every share held (multiply the number of shares by 2 for a new total) 3 for 2 = One additional share for every two shares held (multiply the number of shares by 1.5 for a new total) |
Q. | | How does a 2-for-1 stock split actually work? |
A. | | A 2-for-1 split means the investor will have twice as many shares as he had before, at half the market price. Here’s an example: As of the record date (January 27, 2003) if an investor owns 100 shares of MSFT and the market price is $50.00/share, that investor’s total value is $5,000.00. After the split, the investor will have 200 shares of stock, but the market price will be approximately $25.00/share. The investor’s total investment value in MSFT remains the same at $5,000.00 until the stock price moves up or down. |
Q. | | Why did you split the stock now? |
A. | | The decision to split the stock was made by Microsoft’s Board of Directors, based on a desire to make our stock more accessible to a broader range of investors. |
Q. | | How many times have you split the stock? |
A. | | This is the ninth time the company has split the stock since Microsoft went public back in March 1986. One original share will equal 288 shares after this split is effective. |
Q. | | When is the next earnings release? |
A. | | Third quarter earnings for fiscal year 2013 will be released on April 18, 2013. A webcast of the conference call will be available from the Microsoft Investor Relations page. All earnings releases are on this Web site. |
Q. | | What is Microsoft's fiscal year and corresponding earnings release dates? |
A. | | Microsoft's fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30. Earnings release dates for Fiscal Year 2013: Q1 | Oct. 18, 2012 | Read the Press Release. | Q2 | Jan. 24, 2013 | Read the Press Release. | Q3 | Apr. 18, 2013 | Earnings will be released after the stock market closes. There will also be a webcast of the call with financial analysts. | Q4 | Jul. 18, 2013 | Earnings will be released after the stock market closes. There will also be a webcast of the call with financial analysts. |
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Q. | | Does Microsoft issue quarterly reports? |
A. | | No, because of increased printing and distribution costs, as well as the commitment to the use of our own technologies, Microsoft no longer issues printed quarterly reports but focuses on electronic media instead. You can look at all earnings releases on this website. |
Q. | | How do I get a copy of the Annual Report? |
Q. | | Where can I find historical Microsoft financial statements? |
A. | | You can go to our financial history page at this website to find various financial statements in html and Microsoft Word format, as well as financial graphs and charts to view. |
Q. | | I am a potential investor. How do I get a Microsoft investor pack? |
Q. | | I am a student/researcher? How do I get a Microsoft student pack? |
Q. | | Does Microsoft issue bonds? |
Q. | | What are the coupon rates and maturity dates for the Microsoft bonds? |
A. | | 0.875% Notes due September 27, 2013 2.950% Notes due June 1, 2014 1.625% Notes due September 25, 2015 2.500% Notes due February 8, 2016 0.875% Notes due November 15, 2017 4.200% Notes due June 1, 2019 3.000% Notes due October 1, 2020 4.000% Notes due February 8, 2021 2.125% Notes due November 15, 2022 5.200% Notes due June 1, 2039 4.500% Notes due October 1, 2040 5.300% Notes due February 8, 2041 3.500% Notes due November 15, 2042 |
Q. | | What is the credit rating of Microsoft? |
A. | | The Microsoft corporate credit rating is AAA and Aaa by Standard & Poor's Rating Services and Moody's Investors Service Inc., respectively. The commercial paper is rated A-1+ by Standard & Poor's and P-1 by Moody's. |
Q. | | How can I buy Microsoft bonds? |
A. | | To purchase Microsoft bonds, please consult your financial advisor or broker. |
A. | | XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language) is a freely available electronic language for business reporting. It is an XML–based framework that provides the financial community a standards-based method to prepare, publish, reliably extract, and automatically exchange financial statements. Electronic availability of financial information and transparency of data is key in today's investor and analyst community. XBRL addresses the way financial data is communicated by using XML, a globally recognized standard for transmitting data. By putting financial data in an open, agreed upon standard format, XBRL is helping to revolutionize access to financial information over the Internet. XBRL does not establish new accounting standards, nor does it require additional disclosure from companies to outside audiences. XBRL focuses on enhancing the usability of financial information by means of a digital language of business which enables financial information to be available freely and transparently by the Internet. XBRL not only accommodates accounting standards and policies in place today but is also flexible enough to accommodate future accounting standards and direction. |
A. | | XBRL is used to digitally publish financial statements and other relevant accounting disclosures of companies of all makes and sizes, both public and private. An XBRL-based financial statement contains the information found in traditional financial statements (such as the Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Cash Flow and Statement of Stockholders Equity) in a format that can more easily be recognized and understood by computers. From the creation process, XBRL documents can be exchanged reliably and published more easily. On the analytics side, XBRL enables a dramatic improvement in the processing of financial reports by allowing the information to be analyzed more quickly. |
Q. | | What information does Microsoft publish in XBRL format? |
A. | | Microsoft publishes its financial statements and footnotes each quarter in XBRL in its Form 10-Q and Form 10-K filings. Investor Relations publishes financial statements webpages using XBRL. The XBRL tags are displayed inline in XBRL mode (<>). |
Q. | | What are the benefits of XBRL? |
A. | | XBRL brings standardization to today's business reporting supply chain. At its highest level, XBRL improves the efficiency of communication to investors, as well as the aggregation and analysis of business report information, such as financial statements. XBRL provides an electronic dictionary of terms that enable the tagging of business report information, which can then be transferred across disparate systems for use in activities such as analysis. It allows participants in the business reporting supply chain to spend less time doing data entry and cleansing, and more time on value-added activities like data analysis. The following table summarizes how XBRL affects the various consumers of financial data: Group | Effect | Analysts, investors, and regulators | Enhanced distribution and usability of existing financial statement information that enables automated analysis, significantly less re-keying of financial information (from one form into another), and receiving information in a preferred format for a specific style of analysis. | Financial publishers and data aggregators | More efficient data collection that lowers operating costs associated with custom, idiosyncratic data feeds and reduces errors while adding value to the data and increasing transaction capacity. | Software vendors | Increased potential for full interoperability with other financial and analytical applications: virtually any software product that manages or uses financial information can use XBRL for its data export and import formats. These products include general ledger and accounting systems, report writers, XML editors, and business applications like Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. XBRL is also able to leverage new technologies such as XML Web services and Microsoft .NET. |
Additional XBRL benefits include: • Reduction in the cost of analyzing and reporting business information. • Increased speed and efficiency of business decisions by allowing comparisons across consistent tags, thus enabling analysis to occur more quickly. • Enhanced distribution of business information by allowing the reuse of the same financial information for multiple reporting methods without losing data integrity. • Ready exchange and analysis of business information. |
Q. | | What are the benefits of Microsoft's financial statements being available in XBRL format? |
A. | | XBRL increases the re-usability of financial statement information. Instead of creating multiple report outputs for multiple purposes, a single XBRL document can be created that addresses most needs. This reduces the number of total reports that need to be created and also reduces the re-keying of financial data for analytical and other purposes. Externally, investors will have better access to financial results because XBRL facilitates effective and timely analysis of that information. |
Q. | | What are the differences between HTML, XML and XBRL? |
A. | | In simple terms, HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is a system of marking up a document so it can be published on the World Wide Web. Documents prepared in HTML contain reference graphics and formatting tags. Put another way, HTML is a series of predefined tags that primarily focus on describing how content appears on the Web. For example, HTML describes the font, font size, and color of the text in this paragraph should be when viewed by a Web browser. HTML allowed the Internet to evolve from a text-based collection of data to the multimedia World Wide Web of today. HTML offers content but no real context. XML (Extensible Markup Language) is the universal format for data on the Web that uses tags to give context and structure to content. XML is a standards language that was ratified in February 1998 and is maintained by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). XML does not replace HTML. Rather, XML is a complimentary format that is platform independent, allowing XML data to be rendered on any device, such as a computer, cell phone, personal digital assistant (PDA) or tablet device. XML allows developers to easily describe and deliver rich, structured data from any application in a standard, consistent way. Whereas HTML offers a fixed and predefined number of tags, XML neither defines nor limits tags. Instead, XML provides a framework for defining tags (i.e., taxonomy) and the relationship between them (i.e., schema). Finally, XBRL is an XML–based schema that focuses specifically on business reporting. XBRL is a complement to XML, allowing accountants and regulatory agencies to identify items that are unique to a given business reporting environment. The schema of XBRL defines how to create XBRL documents and XBRL taxonomies (or dictionaries) such as United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). These dictionaries provide a set of business reporting tags or terms that allow users to identify business information in a consistent format. XBRL is also extensible in that users are able to create their own XBRL dictionaries that define and describe tags unique to a given environment. An example of this type of dictionary is the Microsoft custom taxonomy, which can be found on the download page. By putting business report information in an XBRL format, software applications that support XBRL can read the underlying data more efficiently than today’s traditional paper–, HTML–, or PDF–based report formats. |
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