【易瑞沙】案件的教训
最高法院于4月12日维持两项高等法院裁决，称该州和英国药品制造商阿斯利康公司的日本单位对肺癌药物引起的致命性副作用，制药公司不承担任何责任的事件。
下级法院的裁决要求阿斯利康公司（AstraZeneca K.K.）（该公司位于大阪的进口商）和国家或公司向死亡患者的死亡家属支付赔偿。审判程序表明，各级法院的法官作出不同的判决。但是，重要的是政府，药品制造商和医生从诉讼中吸取教训，考虑如何最好地保护新开发的药物的使用者免受其副作用。
2011年2月，大阪地区法院下令AstraZeneca K.K.向四名死亡病人的11名家庭成员支付约6,000万日元的赔偿。至于国家的责任，裁决说，虽然对公司的指导不完善，但是&不是不合理&，因此决定国家对死亡不负任何责任。
2011年3月，东京地方法院下令国家和公司向3名死亡病人的4个死亡家属支付1 760万日元，因为他们都是死亡的原因。但2011年11月的东京高等法院和2012年5月的大阪高等法院撤销了原告的赔偿要求，撤销了下级法院的裁决。
因此，两个高级法院都认为政府和阿斯利康公司不对患者的死亡负责。
提高了肺癌患者的希望，因为它直接靶向癌细胞，只需每天服用一次。阿斯利康公司要求卫生部于日批准该药物的进口和销售。该部于7月5日批准了该药物的批准，这是一个通常需要很长时间药物审批的国家的一个异常快速的行动。日本成为第一个批准该药物进口的国家，易瑞沙在批准后11天出售。
该药开始广泛用于不能进行手术的肺癌患者和那些已经遭受肺癌复发的患者。在销售开始后的三个月内，约有7,000人服用该药物。但其中约160人死于间质性肺炎，据信是药物的副作用。
试验集中在附加到药物的指令是否正确地写关于其副作用。例如，东京地区法院说，普通医生很难通过阅读药物的说明来理解副作用可能是致命的。
间质性肺炎是按照药物通过日当AstraZeneca K.K.的说明中的副作用的顺序从顶部起第四个。发出紧急通知。法院说，它应该摆在其他副作用之前。它还说，阿斯利康未能按照&生产责任法&的要求确保安全，因为它未能提供有关间质性肺炎的足够信息作为副作用。
因为后来发现易瑞沙对于具有某种类型的基因突变的肺癌患者有效，所以在2011年修改了伴随药物的说明书，以表明该药物的使用应限于这种类型的患者。
近几年，每年有7,500人服用。在过去11年中，近900名易瑞沙用户死于间质性肺炎。死亡率正在下降。
现在试验已经结束，从更广泛的角度来看待这个问题是很重要的。一般来说，新开发的药物的临床试验覆盖有限数量的患者。有许多病例，其中副作用不立即知道。在新开发的癌症药物的情况下，参与临床试验的患者的数量进一步受限，并且副作用不会立即表现的可能性高。
这是危险的假设一旦药物批准，它是完全安全的。副作用经常出现在药物被各种类型的患者使用之后。仔细的预防措施是必不可少的，特别是在刚开始销售新药之后的时期。
可以有几种方法来增加新药的安全性 - 收集关于在药物销售开始之后的所有药物使用者的状况的数据，在药物刚被给药之后的一段时间将新药的所有使用者住院出售，只允许特定领域的专家的医生使用一种新的药物用于田间的疾病等。在易瑞沙的情况下，没有采取这些措施。
由于总理安倍晋三推行缩短批准新开发药物的期限的政策，政府，药品制造商和医生更重要的是设计保护患者免受副作用的方法。
虽然4月12日的裁决是最高法院的5人小三议员的一致裁决，五个法官中的两个要求政府考虑扩大救济系统覆盖的副作用受害者包括患癌症的副作用的患者药物。政府应该认真对待这个呼叫。
医生不能太小心使用新开发的药物，虽然这样的药物可能能够治愈以前不能治愈的疾病。他们应该向患者提供有关新药的充分信息。患者，他们应该毫不犹豫地要求医生充分告知他们他们所服用的新药。
免责声明：由本文所表达的意见和建议是作者独立的专业判断，不承担任何责任。他们的意见准确性，不应该被视为医生的建议或替代品。请咨询您的治疗医生了解更多细节。
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官方客服热线
24小时热线您要找的是不是:
n. 毒品，药物
v. 喝酒（drink的过去分词） | adj. 喝醉了的
以上为机器翻译结果，长、整句建议使用
Methods:O-antigen was detected by slide agglutination, H-antigen by test tube, drug resistance by K-B method.
方法：玻片凝集法检测O抗原，试管凝集法检测H抗原；
"I'll make this statement, " she said, smiling without a hint of fluster. "He was in the protocol, and it's a great drug, O. K. ?"
“我将表明我的观点，”她微笑着说道，没有一丝的慌乱。“他按照方案服药，伟哥是一种很棒的药物。可以吗？”
Method Shigella bacterial flora and serotype were identified by systematic biochemistry and serological method. Drug resistance was detected by K-B.
方法采用系统生化和血清学方法鉴定菌群和血清型，采用K-B法检测菌株的耐药性。
Indeed, Ketamine is sometimes abused as a street drug called "special K." There is also concern that repeated doses of ketamine could be harmful to the brain.
Kraft and U.K. drug maker GlaxoSmithKline will be a hot topic on Friday, after billionaire Warren Buffett revealed his Berkshire Hathaway had taken stakes in the companies.
AstraZeneca (nyse: AZN - news - people ), the U.K. drug firm, has purchased two of the machines to find drugs for diseases such as diabetes and cancer.
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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 2016
TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the Transition Period From &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
to &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Commission File Number
MICROSOFT CORPORATION
WASHINGTON
91-1144442
(STATE OF INCORPORATION)
(I.R.S. ID)
ONE MICROSOFT WAY, REDMOND, WASHINGTON
(425) 882-8080
www.microsoft.com/investor
Securities registered pursuant to Section&12(b) of the Act:
COMMON STOCK, $0. par value per share
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& NASDAQ
Securities registered pursuant to Section&12(g) of the Act:
Indicate by check mark
if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.&&&&Yes&&&&&No
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section&13 or Section&15(d) of the Exchange
Act.&&&&Yes&&&&&No
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section&13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter
period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.&&&&Yes&&&&&No&
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its
corporate website, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was
required to submit and post such
files).&&&&Yes&&&&&No
Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item&405 of Regulation S-K (§229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of
registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.&
Indicate by check mark whether the
registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting
company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large&accelerated&filer
Accelerated&filer
Non-accelerated filer
&&(Do not check if a
smaller reporting company)
Smaller&reporting&company
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange
Act).&&&&Yes&&&&&No
As of December&31, 2015, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $424.5 billion based on the closing sale price as reported on the NASDAQ
National Market System. As of July&25, 2016, there were 7,792,515,573 shares of common stock outstanding.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED
BY REFERENCE
Portions of the definitive Proxy Statement to be delivered to shareholders in connection with the Annual Meeting of
Shareholders to be held on November&30, 2016 are incorporated by reference into Part III.
MICROSOFT CORPORATION
For The Fiscal
Year Ended June&30, 2016
Note About Forward-Looking Statements
This report includes estimates, projections, statements relating to our business plans, objectives, and expected operating results that are
“forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section&27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section&21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking
statements may appear throughout this report, including the following sections: “Business,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis,” and “Risk Factors.” These forward-looking statements generally are identified by
the words “believe,” “project,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “intend,” “strategy,” “future,” “opportunity,” “plan,” “may,”
“should,” “will,” “would,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will likely result,” and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are
subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. We describe risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially in “Risk Factors” (Part I, Item&1A of this Form
10-K), “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk” (Part II, Item&7A of this Form 10-K), and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis” (Part II, Item&7 of this Form 10-K). We undertake no obligation
to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events, or otherwise.
ITEM&1. BUSINESS
Our vision
Microsoft is a technology company whose mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Our strategy is to build best-in-class platforms and productivity services for a
mobile-first, cloud-first world.
The mobile-first, cloud-first world is transforming the way individuals and organizations use and
interact with technology. Mobility is not focus it is centered on the mobility of experiences that, in turn, are orchestrated by the cloud. Cloud computing and storage solutions provide people and enterprises with various
capabilities to store and process their data in third-party datacenters. Mobility encompasses the rich collection of data, applications, and services that accompany our customers as they move from setting to setting in their lives. We are
transforming our businesses to enable Microsoft to lead the direction of this digital transformation, and enable our customers and partners to thrive in this evolving world.
What we offer
Founded in 1975, we operate worldwide in over 190 countries. We develop,
license, and support a wide range of software products, services, and devices that deliver new opportunities, greater convenience, and enhanced value to people’s lives.
Our products inclu cross-device produ business s desktop and ser softwa and
training and certification of computer system integrators and developers. We also design, manufacture, and sell devices, including PCs, tablets, gaming and entertainment consoles, phones, other intelligent devices, and related accessories, that
integrate with our cloud-based offerings. We offer an array of services, including cloud-based solutions that provide customers with software, services, platforms, and content, and we provide solution support and consulting services. We also deliver
relevant online advertising to a global audience.
The ambitions that drive us
To carry out our strategy, our research and development efforts focus on three interconnected ambitions:
Reinvent productivity and business processes.
Build the intelligent cloud platform.
Create more personal computing.
Reinvent productivity and business processes
We believe we can significantly enhance the lives of our customers using our broad portfolio of productivity, communication, and information
services that span devices and platforms. Productivity will be the first and foremost objective, to enable people to meet and collaborate more easily, and to effectively express ideas in new ways. We invent new scenarios that in turn create
opportunity for our partners and help businesses accelerate their transformation while respecting each person’s privacy choices. The foundation for these efforts will rest on advancing our leading productivity, collaboration, communication, and
business process tools including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, OneDrive, Skype, and Microsoft Dynamics (“Dynamics”). With Office 365, we provide these familiar industry-leading productivity and business process tools as cloud
services, enabling access from anywhere and any device.&This creates an opportunity to reach new customers and expand the usage of our services by our existing customers. We see opportunity in combining our offerings in new ways that are
mobile, collaborative, intelligent and trustworthy. We offer our services across platforms and devices outside our own. As people move from device to device, so will their content and the richness of their services. We engineer our applications so
users can find, try, and buy them in friction-free ways.
Build the intelligent cloud platform
In deploying technology that advances business strategy, enterprises decide what solutions will make employees more productive, collaborative, and
satisfied, and connect with customers in new and compelling ways. They work to unlock business insights from a world of data. To achieve these objectives, increasingly businesses look to leverage the benefits of the cloud. Helping businesses move to
the cloud is one of our largest opportunities, and we believe we work from a position of strength. Microsoft is one of two leaders in the market.
The shift to the cloud is driven by three important economies of scale: larger datacenters can deploy computational resources at significantly lower cost per un larger datacenters can
coordinate and aggregate diverse customer, geographic, and application demand patterns, improving the utilization of computing, storage, a and multi-tenancy lowers application maintenance labor costs for large public clouds. As
one of the largest providers of cloud computing at scale, we are well-positioned to help businesses move to the cloud and focus on innovation while leaving non-differentiating activities to reliable and cost-effective providers like Microsoft.
We believe our server products and cloud services, which include Microsoft SQL Server (“SQL Server”), Windows Server, Visual
Studio, System Center, and Microsoft Azure (“Azure”), make us the only company with a public, private, and hybrid cloud platform that can power modern business. With Azure, we are one of very few cloud vendors that run at a scale that
meets the needs of businesses of all sizes and complexities. We are working to enhance the return on IT investment by enabling enterprises to combine their existing datacenters and our public cloud into a single cohesive infrastructure. Businesses
can deploy applications in their own datacenter, a partner’s datacenter, or in our datacenters with common security, management, and administration across all environments, with the flexibility and scale they want.
We enable organizations to securely adopt software-as-a-service applications, both our own and third-party, and integrate them with their existing
security and management infrastructure. We continue to innovate with higher-level services including identity and directory services that manage employee corporate identity and manage and secure corporate information accessed and stored across a
growing number of devices, rich data storage and analytics services, machine learning services, media services, web and mobile backend services, and developer productivity services. To foster a rich developer ecosystem, our platform is extensible,
enabling customers and partners to further customize and enhance our solutions, achieving even more value. This strategy requires continuing investment in datacenters and other infrastructure to support our services.
Create more personal computing
We strive to make computing more personal by putting users at the core of the experience, enabling them to interact with technology in more intuitive, engaging, and dynamic ways. A computing device should be not
just a tool, but a partner. Windows&10 is the cornerstone of our ambition to usher in this era of more personal computing. We consider the launch of Windows 10 in July 2015 to be a transformative moment as we moved from an operating system that
runs on a PC to a service that can power the full spectrum of devices. We developed Windows 10 not only to be familiar to our users, but more safe, secure, and always up-to-date. Windows 10 is more personal and productive with functionality such as
Cortana, Windows Hello, Windows Ink, Microsoft Edge, and universal applications. Windows 10 is designed to foster innovation – from us, our partners, and developers – through rich and consistent experiences across the range of existing
devices and entirely new device categories.
Our ambition for Windows 10 is to broaden our economic opportunity through three key
levers: an original equipment manufacturer (“OEM”) ecosystem that creates exciting new hardware designs for Windows 10; our own commitment to the health and profitability of our first-party prem and monetization
opportunities such as services, subscriptions, gaming, and search advertising. Our OEM partners are investing in an extensive portfolio of hardware designs and configurations for Windows 10. We now have the widest range of Windows hardware ever
available.
With the unified Windows operating system, developers and OEMs can contribute to a thriving Windows ecosystem. We invest
heavily to make Windows the most secure, manageable, and capable operating system for the needs of a modern workforce. We are working to create a broad developer opportunity by unifying the installed base to Windows 10 through upgrades and ongoing
updates, and by enabling universal Windows applications to run across all device targets. As part of our strategic objectives, we are committed to designing and marketing first-party devices to help drive innovation, create new categories, and
stimulate demand in the Windows ecosystem. We are developing new input/output methods within Windows 10, including speech, pen, gesture, and augmented reality holograms to power more personal computing experiences.
Our future opportunity
There are several
distinct areas of technology that we aim to drive forward. Our goal is to lead the industry in these areas over the long-term, which we expect will translate to sustained growth. We are investing significant resources in:
Delivering new productivity and business processes to improve how people communicate, collaborate, learn, work, play, and interact with one another.
Building and running cloud-based services in ways that unleash new experiences and opportunities for businesses and individuals.
Establishing the Windows platform across servers and devices, both our own and third-party, and the cloud to drive a thriving ecosystem of developers, unify
the cross-device user experience, and increase agility when bringing new advances to market.
Developing new devices that have increasingly natural ways to interact with them, including speech, pen, gesture, and augmented reality holograms.
Applying machine learning to make technology more intuitive and able to act on our behalf to understand and interpret our needs using natural methods of
communication.
We believe the breadth of our products and services portfolio, our large global partner and customer
base, our growing ecosystem, and our ongoing investment in innovation position us to be a leader in these areas and differentiate ourselves from competitors.
OPERATING SEGMENTS
Our segments provide management with a comprehensive financial view of our key businesses. The segments enable the alignment of strategies and objectives across the development, sales, marketing, and services
organizations, and they provide a framework for timely and rational allocation of resources within businesses.
In June 2015, we
announced a change in organizational structure to align to our strategic direction as a productivity and platform company. During the first quarter of fiscal year 2016, our chief operating decision maker, who is also our Chief Executive Officer,
requested changes in the information that he regularly reviews for purposes of allocating resources and assessing performance. As a result, beginning in fiscal year 2016, we report our financial performance based on our new segments, Productivity
and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing.
Additional information on our operating segments and geographic
and product information is contained in Note&21&–&Segment Information and Geographic Data of the Notes to Financial Statements (Part II, Item&8 of this Form 10-K).
Our reportable segments are described below.
Productivity and Business Processes
Productivity and Business Processes segment consists of products and services in our portfolio of productivity, communication, and information services, spanning a variety of devices and platforms. This segment primarily comprises:
Office Commercial, including volume licensing and subscriptions to Office 365 commercial for products and services such as Office, Exchange, SharePoint, and
Skype for Business, and related Client Access Licenses (“CALs”).
Office Consumer, including Office sold through retail or through an Office 365 consumer subscription, and Office Consumer Services, including Skype,
Outlook.com, and OneDrive.
Dynamics business solutions, including Dynamics ERP products, Dynamics CRM on-premises, and Dynamics CRM Online.
Office Commercial
Office Commercial is
designed to increase personal, team, and organizational productivity through a range of products and services. Growth depends on our ability to reach new users, add value to our core product set, and continue to expand our product and service
offerings into new markets such as security, analytics, collaboration, unified communications, and business intelligence. Office Commercial revenue is mainly affected by a combination of the demand from commercial customers for volume licensing and
Software Assurance and the number of information workers in an enterprise, as well as the continued shift to Office 365. Office 365 is our cloud-based service that provides access to Office plus other productivity services. CALs provide access
rights to certain Office Commercial products and services, including Exchange, SharePoint, and Skype for Business, and revenue is reported along with the associated Office products and services.
Office Consumer
Office Consumer is
designed to increase personal productivity through a range of products and services. Growth depends on our ability to reach new users, add value to our core product set, and continue to expand our product and service offerings into new markets.
Office Consumer revenue is mainly affected by the combination of customers that buy Office with their new devices and the continued shift to Office 365. Office Consumer Services revenue is mainly affected by the demand for communication and storage
through Skype, Outlook.com, and OneDrive, which is largely driven by subscriptions, advertising, and the sale of minutes. Skype is designed to connect friends, family, clients, and colleagues through a variety of devices.
Dynamics provides business solutions for financial management, customer relationship management (“CRM”), supply chain management, and analytics applications for small and mid-size businesses, large
organizations, and divisions of global enterprises. Dynamics revenue is largely driven by the number of information workers licensed.
Competition
Competitors to Office include software and global application vendors such as Adobe Systems, Apple, Cisco Systems, Facebook,
Google, IBM, Oracle, SAP, and numerous web-based and mobile application competitors as well as local application developers in Asia and Europe. Cisco Systems is using its position in enterprise communications equipment to grow its unified
communications business. Google provides a hosted messaging and productivity suite. Apple distributes versions of its pre-installed application software, such as email, note-taking, and calendar products, through its PCs, tablets, and phones. Skype
for Business and Skype also compete with a variety of instant messaging, voice, and video communication providers, ranging from start-ups to established enterprises. Web-based offerings competing with individual applications have also positioned
themselves as alternatives to our products. We believe our products compete effectively based on our strategy of providing powerful, flexible, secure, and easy-to-use solutions that work well with technologies our customers already have and are
available on a device or via the cloud.
Our Dynamics products compete with vendors such as Oracle and SAP in the market for large
organizations and divisions of global enterprises. In the market focused on providing solutions for small and mid-sized businesses, our Dynamics products compete with vendors such as Infor, The Sage Group, and NetSuite.&Salesforce.com’s
cloud CRM offerings compete directly with our Dynamics CRM on-premises and CRM Online offerings.
Intelligent Cloud
Our Intelligent Cloud segment consists of our public, private, and hybrid server products and cloud services that can power modern business. This
segment primarily comprises:
Server products and cloud services, including SQL Server, Windows Server, Visual Studio, System Center, and related CALs, as well as Azure.
Enterprise Services, including Premier Support Services and Microsoft Consulting Services.
Server Products and Cloud Services
server products are designed to make IT professionals, developers, and their systems more productive and efficient. Server software is integrated server infrastructure and middleware designed to support software applications built on the Windows
Server operating system. This includes the server platform, database, business intelligence, storage, management and operations, virtualization, service-oriented architecture platform, security, and identity software. We also license standalone and
software development lifecycle tools for software architects, developers, testers, and project managers. Server products and cloud services revenue is mainly affected by purchases through volume licensing programs, licenses sold to OEMs, and retail
packaged products. CALs provide access rights to certain server products, including SQL Server and Windows Server, and revenue is reported along with the associated server product.
Azure is a scalable cloud platform with computing, networking, storage, database, and management, along with advanced services such as analytics,
and comprehensive solutions such as Enterprise Mobility Suite. Azure includes a flexible platform that helps developers build, deploy, and manage enterprise, mobile, web, and Internet of Things applications, for any platform or device without having
to worry about the underlying infrastructure. Azure enables customers to devote more resources to development and use of applications that benefit their organizations, rather than managing on-premises hardware and software.
Enterprise Services
Enterprise Services, including Premier Support Services and Microsoft Consulting Services, assist customers in developing, deploying, and managing Microsoft server and desktop solutions and provide training and
certification to developers and IT professionals on various Microsoft products.
Competition
Our server products face competition from a wide variety of server operating systems and applications offered by companies with a range of market
approaches. Vertically integrated computer manufacturers such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Oracle offer their own versions of the Unix operating system preinstalled on server hardware. Nearly all computer manufacturers offer server hardware for the
Linux operating system and many contribute to Linux operating system development. The competitive position of Linux has also benefited from the large number of compatible applications now produced by many commercial and non-commercial software
developers. A number of companies, such as Red Hat, supply versions of Linux.
We compete to provide enterprise-wide computing solutions
and point solutions with numerous commercial software vendors that offer solutions and middleware technology platforms, software applications for connectivity (both Internet and intranet), security, hosting, database, and e-business servers. IBM and
Oracle lead a group of companies focused on the Java Platform Enterprise Edition that competes with our enterprise-wide computing solutions. Commercial competitors for our server applications for PC-based distributed client/server environments
include CA Technologies, IBM, and Oracle. Our web application platform software competes with open source software such as Apache, Linux, MySQL, and PHP. In middleware, we compete against Java vendors.
Our database, business intelligence, and data warehousing solutions offerings compete with products from IBM, Oracle, SAP, and other companies. Our
system management solutions compete with server management and server virtualization platform providers, such as BMC, CA Technologies, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and VMware. Our products for software developers compete against offerings from Adobe, IBM,
Oracle, other companies, and open-source projects, including Eclipse (sponsored by CA Technologies, IBM, Oracle, and SAP), PHP, and Ruby on Rails, among others.
We believe our server products provide customers with advantages in performance, total costs of ownership, and productivity by delivering superior applications, development tools, compatibility with a broad base of
hardware and software applications, security, and manageability.
Azure faces diverse competition from companies such as Amazon, Google,
IBM, Oracle, Salesforce.com, VMware, and open source offerings. Azure’s competitive advantage includes enabling a hybrid cloud, allowing deployment of existing datacenters with our public cloud into a single, cohesive infrastructure, and the
ability to run at a scale that meets the needs of businesses of all sizes and complexities.
Our Enterprise Services business competes
with a wide range of companies that provide strategy and business planning, application development, and infrastructure services, including multinational consulting firms and small niche businesses focused on specific technologies.
More Personal Computing
Our More Personal
Computing segment consists of products and services geared towards harmonizing the interests of end users, developers, and IT professionals across screens of all sizes. This segment primarily comprises:
Windows, including Windows OEM licensing (“Windows OEM”) and other non-volume licensing of the Windows operating system, volume licensing of the
Windows operating system, patent licensing, Windows Embedded, MSN display advertising, and Windows Phone licensing.
Devices, including Microsoft Surface (“Surface”), phones, and PC accessories.
Gaming, including X Xbox Live, comprising transactions, subscriptions, and third-party video game royalties.
Search advertising.
The Windows operating system is designed to deliver a more personal computing experience for users by enabling consistency of
experience, applications, and information across their devices. We consider the launch of Windows 10 in July 2015 to be a transformative moment as we moved from an operating system that runs on a PC to a service that can power the full spectrum of
Windows revenue is impacted significantly by the number of Windows operating system licenses purchased by OEMs, which they
pre-install on the devices they sell. In addition to computing device market volume, Windows revenue is impacted by:
The mix of computing devices based on form factor and screen size.
Differences in device market demand between developed markets and emerging markets.
Attachment of Windows to devices shipped.
Customer mix between consumer, small- and medium-sized businesses, and large enterprises.
Changes in inventory levels in the OEM channel.
Pricing changes and promotions, pricing variation that occurs when the mix of devices manufactured shifts from local and regional system builders to large
multinational OEMs, and different pricing of Windows versions licensed.
Volume licensing
of the Windows operating system is affected mainly by the demand from commercial customers for volume licensing and Software Assurance, often reflecting the number of information workers in a licensed enterprise, and is therefore relatively
independent of the number of PCs sold in a given year.
Patent licensing includes our programs to license patents across a broad array
of technology areas, including mobile devices and cloud offerings.
Windows Embedded extends the power of Windows and the cloud to
intelligent systems by delivering specialized operating systems, tools, and services.
Display advertising primarily includes MSN ads.
In June 2015, we entered into agreements with AOL and AppNexus to outsource our display sales responsibility.
The Windows Phone
operating system is designed to bring users closer to the people, applications, and content they need. Prior to our acquisition of Nokia Corporation’s (“Nokia”) Devices and Services business (“NDS”) in April 2014, Microsoft
and Nokia jointly created new mobile products and services and extended established products and services to new markets through a strategic alliance.
We design, manufacture, and sell
devices such as Surface, phones, and other intelligent devices, as well as PC accessories. Our devices are designed to enable people and organizations to connect to the people and content that matter most using integrated Microsoft services and
Windows. Surface is designed to help organizations, students, and consumers to be more productive. Our latest Surface devices, the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book, were released in October 2015. We began manufacturing and selling Microsoft Lumia
(“Lumia”) phones and other phones with the acquisition of NDS in April 2014. In July 2015, we announced a plan to restructure our phone business to better focus and align resources. In May 2016, we announced plans to further streamline our
smartphone hardware business. We also recently announced the sale of our entry-level feature phone business in May 2016. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2016, subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.
Our gaming platform is designed to provide a unique variety of entertainment through the use of our devices, peripherals, applications, online services, and content. We released Xbox 360 and Xbox One in November
2005 and November&2013, respectively, and recently announced Xbox One S will be released in August 2016. We also launched our Windows 10 Xbox app in July 2015. Xbox Live enables people to connect and share online gaming experiences and is
accessible on Xbox consoles, Windows-enabled devices, and other devices.&Xbox Live services consist of subscriptions and sales of Xbox Live enabled content, as well as advertising, and are designed to benefit users by providing access to a
network of certified applications and services and to benefit our developer and partner ecosystems by providing access to a large customer base. We also design and sell gaming content to showcase our unique platform capabilities for Xbox consoles,
Windows-enabled devices, and other devices. We acquired Mojang Synergies AB, the Swedish video game developer of the Minecraft gaming franchise, in November 2014. The addition of Minecraft and its community enhances our gaming portfolio across
Windows, Xbox, and other ecosystems besides our own. We believe the success of our gaming business is determined by the overall active user base through Xbox Live enabled content, availability of games, providing exclusive game content that gamers
seek, the computational power and reliability of the devices used to access our content and services, and the ability to create new experiences via online services, downloadable content, and peripherals.
Search Advertising
Search advertising,
including Bing and Bing Ads, is designed to deliver relevant online advertising to a global audience. We have several partnerships with other companies, including Yahoo!, in which we provide and monetize search results. Growth depends on our ability
to attract new users, understand intent, and match intent with relevant content and advertiser offerings.
Competition
The Windows operating system faces competition from various software products and from alternative platforms and devices, mainly from Apple and
Google. We believe Windows competes effectively by giving customers choice, value, flexibility, security, an easy-to-use interface, and compatibility with a broad range of hardware and software applications, including those that enable productivity.
Our devices face competition from various computer, tablet, hardware, and phone manufacturers, and offer a unique combination of
high-quality industrial design and innovative technologies across various price points, many of which are also current or potential partners and customers. These manufacturers include Apple, as well as our Windows OEM partners.
Our gaming platform competes with console platforms from Sony and Nintendo, both of which have a large, established base of customers. The
lifecycle for gaming and entertainment consoles averages five to ten years. Nintendo released their latest generation console in November 2012. Sony released their latest generation console in November 2013.
In addition to Sony and Nintendo, we compete with other providers of entertainment services through online marketplaces.&We believe our gaming
platform is effectively positioned against competitive products and services based on significant innovation in hardware architecture, user interface, developer tools, online gaming and entertainment services, and continued strong exclusive content
from our own game franchises as well as other digital content offerings. Our video games competitors include Electronic Arts and Activision Blizzard. Xbox Live faces competition from various online marketplaces, including those operated by Amazon,
Apple, and Google.
Our search advertising business competes with Google and a wide array of websites, social platforms like Facebook,
and portals that provide content and online offerings to end users.
OPERATIONS
We have operations centers that support all operations in their regions, including customer contract and order processing, credit and collections, information processing, and vendor management and logistics. The
regional center in Ireland supports the European, Middle Eastern, and A the center in Singapore supports the Japan, India, Greater China, and Asia-P and the centers in Fargo, North Dakota, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Puerto
Rico, Redmond, Washington, and Reno, Nevada support Latin America and North America. In addition to the operations centers, we also operate datacenters throughout the Americas, Australia, Europe, and Asia.
To serve the needs of customers around the world and to improve the quality and usability of products in international markets, we localize many of
our products to reflect local languages and conventions. Localizing a product may require modifying the user interface, altering dialog boxes, and translating text.
We operate manufacturing facilities for the production and customization of phones, predominantly in Vietnam. We announced the sale of our entry-level feature phone business in May 2016, which includes the sale of
our phone manufacturing facility in Vietnam.
Our devices, other than phones, are primarily manufactured by third-party contract
manufacturers. We generally have the ability to use other manufacturers if a current vendor becomes unavailable or unable to meet our requirements.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
During fiscal years , and 2014, research and development
expense was $12.0 billion, $12.0 billion, and $11.4&billion, respectively. These amounts represented 14%, 13%, and 13% of revenue in fiscal years , and 2014, respectively. We plan to continue to make significant investments in a broad
range of research and development efforts.
Product and Service Development, and Intellectual Property
We develop most of our products and services internally through three engineering groups.
Applications and Services Engineering Group, focuses on broad applications and services core technologies in productivity, communication, education,
search, and other information categories.
Cloud and Enterprise Engineering Group, focuses on our cloud infrastructure, server, database, CRM, enterprise resource planning, management,
development tools, and other business process applications and services for enterprises.
Windows and Devices Engineering Group, focuses on our Windows platform across devices of all types, hardware development of our devices, and associated
online marketplaces.
Internal development allows us to maintain competitive advantages that come from product
differentiation and closer technical control over our products and services. It also gives us the freedom to decide which modifications and enhancements are most important and when they should be implemented. We strive to obtain information as early
as possible about changing usage patterns and hardware advances that may affect software design. Before releasing new software platforms, we provide application vendors with a range of resources and guidelines for development, training, and testing.
Generally, we also create product documentation internally.
We protect our intellectual property investments in a variety of ways. We
work actively in the U.S. and internationally to ensure the enforcement of copyright, trademark, trade secret, and other protections that apply to our software and hardware products, services, business plans, and branding. We are a leader among
technology companies in pursuing patents and currently have a portfolio of over 61,000 U.S. and international patents issued and over 35,000
pending. While we employ much of our internally developed intellectual property exclusively in Microsoft products and services, we also engage in outbound and inbound licensing of specific
patented technologies that are incorporated into licensees’ or Microsoft’s products. From time to time, we enter into broader cross-license agreements with other technology companies covering entire groups of patents. We also purchase or
license technology that we incorporate into our products or services. At times, we make select intellectual property broadly available at no or low cost to achieve a strategic objective, such as promoting industry standards, advancing
interoperability, or attracting and enabling our external development community.
While it may be necessary in the future to seek or
renew licenses relating to various aspects of our products and business methods, we believe, based upon past experience and industry practice, such licenses generally could be obtained on commercially reasonable terms. We believe our continuing
research and product development are not materially dependent on any single license or other agreement with a third party relating to the development of our products.
Investing in the Future
Microsoft’s success is based on our ability to create new and
compelling products, services, and experiences for our users, to initiate and embrace disruptive technology trends, to enter new geographic and product markets, and to drive broad adoption of our products and services. We invest in a range of
emerging technology trends and breakthroughs that we believe offer significant opportunities to deliver value to our customers and growth for the company. Based on our assessment of key technology trends, we maintain our long-term commitment to
research and development across a wide spectrum of technologies, tools, and platforms spanning digital work and life experiences, cloud computing, and devices operating systems and hardware.
While our main research and development facilities are located in Redmond, Washington, we also operate research and development facilities in other
parts of the U.S. and around the world, including Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, and the United Kingdom. This global approach helps us remain competitive in local markets and enables us to continue to attract
top talent from across the world. We generally fund research at the corporate level to ensure that we are looking beyond immediate product considerations to opportunities further in the future. We also fund research and development activities at the
business segment level. Much of our business segment level research and development is coordinated with other segments and leveraged across the company.
In addition to our main research and development operations, we also operate Microsoft Research. Microsoft Research is one of the world’s largest computer science research organizations, and works in close
collaboration with top universities around the world to advance the state-of-the-art in computer science, providing us a unique perspective on future technology trends and contributing to our innovation.
DISTRIBUTION, SALES, AND MARKETING
We market and distribute our products and services through the following channels: OEMs, distributors and resellers, online, and Microsoft retail stores. Our sales force performs a variety of functions, including
working directly with enterprises and public sector organizations worldwide to identify and meet their s managing OEM and supporting solution integrators, independent software vendors, and other partners who
engage directly with our customers to perform sales, consulting, and fulfillment functions for our products.
We distribute software through OEMs that pre-install our software on new devices and servers they sell. The largest component of the OEM business
is the Windows operating system pre-installed on computing devices. OEMs also sell hardware pre-installed with other Microsoft products, including server and embedded operating systems and applications such as our Microsoft Office suite. In addition
to these products, we also market our services through OEMs and service bundles such as Windows with Bing or Windows with Office 365 subscription.
There are two broad categories of OEMs. The largest OEMs, many of which operate globally, are
referred to as “Direct OEMs,” as our relationship with them is managed through a direct agreement between Microsoft and the OEM. We have distribution agreements covering one or more of our products with virtually all of the multinational
OEMs, including Acer, ASUST, Dell, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Samsung, Toshiba, and with many regional and local OEMs. The second broad category of OEMs consists of lower-volume PC manufacturers (also called “system builders”),
which source their Microsoft software for pre-installation and local redistribution primarily through the Microsoft distributor channel rather than through a direct agreement or relationship with Microsoft.
Distributors and Resellers
organizations that license our products and services through Enterprise Agreements transact directly with us, with sales support from solution integrators, independent software vendors, web agencies, and developers that advise organizations on
licensing our products and services (“Enterprise Agreement Software Advisors”, or “ESAs”). Organizations also license our products and services indirectly, primarily through licensing solution partners (“LSPs”),
distributors, value-added resellers (“VARs”), OEMs, system builder channels, and retailers. Although each type of reselling partner reaches organizations of all sizes, LSPs are primarily engaged with large organizations, distributors
resell primarily to VARs, and VARs typically reach small- and medium-sized organizations. ESAs typically are also authorized as LSPs and operate as resellers for our other licensing programs, such as the Select Plus and Open licensing programs
discussed under “Licensing Options” below. Some of our distributors include Ingram Micro and Tech Data, and some of our largest resellers include CDW, Dell, Insight Enterprises, and Software House International.
Our Dynamics software offerings are also licensed to enterprises through a global network of channel partners providing vertical solutions and
specialized services. We distribute our retail packaged products primarily through independent non-exclusive distributors, authorized replicators, resellers, and retail outlets. Individual consumers obtain these products primarily through retail
outlets, including Microsoft retail stores. We distribute our devices through third-party retailers and Microsoft retail stores. Our phones are also distributed through global wireless communications carriers. We have a network of field sales
representatives and field support personnel that solicit orders from distributors and resellers, and provide product training and sales support.
Although on-premises software
continues to be an important part of our business, increasingly we are delivering additional value to customers through cloud-based services. We provide commercial cloud-based solutions such as Office 365, Azure, and Dynamics CRM Online. We also
provide online content services to consumers through Bing, MSN portals and channels, Office 365, Xbox Live, Outlook.com, OneDrive, Skype, and Windows Store. Other services delivered online include our online advertising platform with offerings for
advertisers and publishers, as well as Microsoft Developer Network subscription content and updates, periodic product updates, and online technical and practice readiness resources to support our partners in developing and selling our products and
solutions. As we increasingly deliver online services, we sell many of these cloud-based services through our enterprise agreements and have also enabled new sales programs to reach small and medium-sized businesses.&These programs include
direct sales, direct sales supported by a large network of partner advisors, and resale of services through operator channels, such as telephone, cell, and cable providers.
We also sell our products through our Microsoft retail stores and online marketplaces.
We license software to organizations under agreements that allow the customer to acquire multiple licenses of products and
services. Our agreements for organizations to acquire multiple licenses of products and services are designed to provide them with a means of doing so without having to acquire separate licenses through retail channels. In delivering organizational
licensing agreements to the market, we use different programs designed to provide flexibility for organizations of various sizes. While these programs may differ in various parts of the world, generally they include those discussed below.
Customer Licensing Programs
Enterprise Agreement Licensing
Designed primarily for medium- and large-sized organizations
that want to obtain the best value by standardizing on a common IT platform across their organization. Under the Enterprise Agreement, customers can acquire licenses for online services and/or software products with Software Assurance, which convey
rights to future versions of certain software products over the contract period. Software Assurance also provides support, tools, and training to help customers deploy and use software efficiently. Enterprises can elect to acquire perpetual licenses
or, under the Enterprise Subscription option, can acquire non-perpetual, subscription licenses for a specified period (generally three years). Online services are also available, and subscriptions are generally structured with three-year terms.
Microsoft Product and Services Agreement Licensing
Suited for medium- and large-sized organizations, the Microsoft Products and Services Agreement (“MPSA”) provides customers the ability to purchase online services subscriptions, software licenses,
software licenses with Software Assurance, and renewals of Software Assurance through a single agreement.&Software Assurance and online services subscriptions are generally available for a term of up to three years. We plan on expanding the
offers under the MPSA in fiscal year 2017 to better enable organizations to obtain the best value by standardizing on a common IT platform across their organization.
Select Plus Licensing
Designed primarily for medium- and large-sized organizations, the
Select Plus program allows customers to acquire perpetual licenses and, at the customer’s election, Software Assurance over a specified time period (generally three years or less). Similar to Open programs, the Select Plus program allows
customers to acquire licenses only, acquire licenses with Software Assurance, or renew Software Assurance upon the expiration of existing volume licensing agreements. A subset of online services is also available for purchase through the Select Plus
program, and subscriptions are generally structured with terms between one and three years.
In July 2014, we announced the retirement
over a two-year period of Select Plus agreements for commercial customers, in favor of modern licensing options. Beginning July 2015, no new Select Plus agreements were signed with commercial organizations, and customers who want to purchase
licenses were encouraged to transition to the MPSA. Starting in July 2016, we will no longer be accepting orders from commercial organizations for Select Plus after their next agreement anniversary. We expect the entire Select Plus business to
transition to the MPSA within a few years.
Open Licensing
Designed primarily for small- and medium-sized organizations, the Open programs allow customers to acquire perpetual or subscription licenses and, at the customer’s election, rights to future versions of
software products over a specified time period (generally two or three years depending on the specific programs used). The Open programs have several variations to fit customers’ diverse ways of purchasing. Under the Open License program,
customers can acquire licenses only or licenses with Software Assurance, and/or renew Software Assurance upon the expiration of other existing volume licensing agreements. Under the Open Value and Open Value Subscription programs, customers can
acquire perpetual or subscription licenses, respectively, over a three-year period. Online services are available in each of the Open programs.
Customer Licensing Programs — Online Services Only
Microsoft Online Subscription Agreement is designed to enable small and medium-sized businesses to easily purchase Microsoft Online Services. The program allows customers to acquire monthly or annual subscriptions
for cloud-based services.
Partner Programs
The Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider program enables partners to directly manage their entire Microsoft cloud customer lifecycle. Partners in this program use dedicated tools to directly provision, manage, and
support their customer subscriptions. Partners can easily package their own tools, products, and services, and combine them into one monthly or annual customer bill.
The Microsoft Services Provider License Agreement is a program targeted at service providers and independent software vendors allowing these partners to provide software services and hosted applications to their
end customers. Agreements are generally structured with a three-year term, and partners are billed monthly based upon consumption.
Microsoft Online Services Reseller Agreement is a program that enables partners to package Microsoft online services with the partners’ services.
The Independent Software Vendor Royalty program enables partners to use Microsoft software in their own software programs.
Our customers include individual consumers, small- and medium-sized organizations,
large global enterprises, public sector institutions, Internet service providers, application developers, and OEMs. No sales to an individual customer accounted for more than 10% of revenue in fiscal years , or 2014. Our practice is to
ship our products promptly upon receipt of purchase o consequently, backlog is not significant.
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS OF THE REGISTRANT
Our executive officers as of July&28, 2016 were as follows:
Position with the Company
Satya&Nadella
Chief Executive Officer
Christopher&C.&Capossela
Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer
Jean-Philippe Courtois
Executive Vice President and President, Microsoft Global Sales, Marketing and Operations
Kathleen T. Hogan
Executive Vice President, Human Resources
Amy E. Hood
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
Margaret L. Johnson
Executive Vice President, Business Development
Bradford L. Smith
President and Chief Legal Officer
Mr.&Nadella was appointed Chief Executive Officer in February 2014. He served as Executive Vice President,
Cloud and Enterprise since July 2013. From 2011 to 2013, Mr.&Nadella served as President, Server and Tools. From 2009 to 2011, he was Senior Vice President, Online Services Division. From 2008 to 2009, he was Senior Vice President, Search,
Portal, and Advertising. Since joining Microsoft in 1992, Mr.&Nadella’s roles also included Vice President of the Business Division.
Mr.&Capossela was appointed Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer in March 2014.&Previously, he served as the worldwide leader of the Consumer Channels Group, responsible for sales and
marketing activities with OEMs, operators, and retail partners.&In his more than 20 years at Microsoft, Mr.&Capossela has held a variety of marketing leadership roles in the Microsoft Office Division.&He was responsible for marketing
productivity solutions including Microsoft Office, Office 365, SharePoint, Exchange, Skype for Business, Project, and Visio.
Mr.&Courtois was named Executive Vice President and President, Microsoft Global Sales, Marketing and Operations in July 2016. Before that he
was President of Microsoft International since June 2005. He had been Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft Europe, Middle East, and Africa since March 2003. Previous to that, he had been Senior Vice
President and President, Microsoft Europe, Middle East, and Africa since July 2000. Before holding that position, he had been Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Customer Marketing since July
1998. Mr.&Courtois joined Microsoft in 1984. He also serves on the Board of Directors of AstraZeneca PLC.
Ms.&Hogan was
appointed Executive Vice President, Human Resources in November 2014. Prior to that Ms.&Hogan was Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Services. She also served as Corporate Vice President of Customer Service and Support. Ms.&Hogan joined
Microsoft in 2003.
Ms.&Hood was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in July 2013, subsequent to her
appointment as Chief Financial Officer in May 2013. Beginning in 2010, Ms.&Hood was Chief Financial Officer of the Microsoft Business Division. From 2006 through 2009, Ms.&Hood was General Manager, Microsoft Business Division
Strategy.&Since joining Microsoft in 2002, Ms.&Hood has also held finance-related positions in the Server and Tools Business and the corporate finance organization.
Ms.&Johnson was appointed Executive Vice President, Business Development in September 2014. Prior to that Ms.&Johnson spent 24 years at Qualcomm in various leadership positions across engineering, sales,
marketing and business development. She most recently served as Executive Vice President of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Ms.&Johnson also serves on the Board of Directors of Live Nation Entertainment, Inc.
Mr.&Smith was appointed President and Chief Legal Officer in September 2015. Prior to that he served as Executive Vice President, General
Counsel, and Secretary since 2011, and served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary from 2001 to 2011. Mr.&Smith was also named Chief Compliance Officer in 2002. He had been Deputy General Counsel for Worldwide Sales and
previously was responsible for managing the European Law and Corporate Affairs Group, based in Paris. Mr.&Smith joined Microsoft in 1993. Mr.&Smith also serves on the Board of Directors of Netflix, Inc.
June&30, 2016, we employed approximately 114,000 people on a full-time basis, 63,000 in the U.S. and 51,000 internationally. Of the total employed people, 38,000 were in operations, including manufacturing, distribution, product support, and
37,000 in product rese 29,000 in and 10,000 in general and administration. Certain employees are subject to collective bargaining agreements.
In June 2015, management approved a restructuring plan that eliminated approximately 7,400 positions in fiscal year 2016, primarily in our phone
hardware business.
We periodically evaluate how to best deploy the company’s resources. In the fourth quarter of 2016, management
approved restructuring plans that would result in job eliminations, primarily across our smartphone hardware business and global sales. In addition to the elimination of 1,850 positions that were announced in May 2016, approximately 2,850 roles
globally will be reduced during the year as an extension of the earlier plan, and these actions are expected to be completed by the end of fiscal year 2017.
AVAILABLE INFORMATION
Our Internet address is www.microsoft.com. At our Investor Relations
website, www.microsoft.com/investor, we make available free of charge a variety of information for investors. Our goal is to maintain the Investor Relations website as a portal through which investors can easily find or navigate to pertinent
information about us, including:
Our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, and any amendments to those reports, as soon as reasonably
practicable after we electronically file that material with or furnish it to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”).
Information on our business strategies, financial results, and metrics for investors.
Announcements of investor conferences, speeches, and events at which our executives talk about our product, service, and competitive strategies. Archives of
these events are also available.
Press releases on quarterly earnings, product and service announcements, legal developments, and international news.
Item 1, 1A
Corporate governance information including our articles of incorporation, bylaws, governance guidelines, committee charters, codes of conduct and ethics,
global corporate social responsibility initiatives, and other governance-related policies.
Other news and announcements that we may post from time to time that investors might find useful or interesting.
Opportunities to sign up for email alerts and RSS feeds to have information pushed in real time.
The information found on our website is not part of this or any other report we file with, or furnish to, the SEC. In addition to these channels,
we use social media to communicate to the public. It is possible that the information we post on social media could be deemed to be material to investors. We encourage investors, the media, and others interested in Microsoft to review the
information we post on the social media channels listed on our Investor Relations website.
ITEM&1A.&RISK FACTORS
Our operations and financial results are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those described below, that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash
flows, and the trading price of our common stock.
We face intense competition across all markets for our products and services, which may lead to
lower revenue or operating margins.
Competition in the technology sector
Our competitors range in size from diversified global companies with significant research and development resources to small, specialized firms
whose narrower product lines may let them be more effective in deploying technical, marketing, and financial resources. Barriers to entry in many of our businesses are low and many of the areas in which we compete evolve rapidly with changing and
disruptive technologies, shifting user needs, and frequent introductions of new products and services. Our ability