* '''1989'''
		* Santa Cruz Operation, UNIX, Server operating system - 20% stake

	* '''1990'''

	* '''1991'''

	* '''1992'''

	* '''1993'''

	* '''1994'''
		* DreamWorks Interactive, , Multimedia titles - $30 million (50% stake)
		* Dreamworks SKG, , Movies, music and entertainment - not disclosed
		* One Tree, SourceSafe, Source code management; used in Visual Basic and Visual Studio - not disclosed
		* Stac Electronics, producer of Stacker - $39.9M
		* UUNet, , Internet network infrastructure - 13% stake (bought by MFS in 1996)
		* June 28: SoftImage, High-level 3D animation  - $177M
		* November 1: NextBase
		* November 15: One Tree Software

	* '''1995'''
		* Bruce Artwick Organization, Flight Simulator, Games software - not disclosed
		* Individual Inc., iNews, Customized business news services - 7.4% stake
		* MSNBC, MSNBC, On-line news - $500 million
		* Netwise, producer of Transaccess, Linking databases to mainframes
		* RenderMorphics Ltd., Reality Lab, 3D graphics for games - not disclosed
		* February 23: RenderMorphics, producer of RealityLab, become the bases of Direct3D
		* July 10: SNMP Technology From Network Managers
		* October 16: The Blue Ribbon SoundWorks, Ltd.
		* November 6: Interoperability Technology, Expertise From Netwise Inc.
		* December 12: Bruce Artwick Organization Ltd.

	* '''1996'''
		* Aha software, producer of Smart Ink and InkWriter ( Handwriting recognition )
		* Aspect Engineering, dbWeb, Internet Tools for the Web - not disclosed
		* Atomic Games, World at War, etc., Games software - publishing titles
		* Black Entertainment Television, MSBET, On-line news & entertainment - not disclosed (joint ownership with BET)
		* Colusa, OmniVM, Java-like object-oriented software - not disclosed
		* Electric Gravity, Internet Gaming Zone, On-line gaming environment - not disclosed
		* eShop, , Secure Internet retailing & payment system for Merchant Server. - not disclosed
		* Exos, Force Feedback, Joystick and input devices - not disclosed
		* NetCarta, Web Mapper (now Site Analyst), Web site management - $20 million
		* Panorama Software Systems, , Multidimensional database
		* ResNova Software, WebforOne and Boulevard, Mac Web server Software company - not disclosed
		* SingleTrac Entertainmnet, Twisted Metal, Game software - not disclosed
		* VDONet Corp., VDO Wave technology, Video steaming - 5% stake
		* Vermeer, Vermeer (renamed Frontpage), Web site editor & management - $80 to $130 million
		* Rainbow America, Fury 3, Games software - publishing titles
		* December: Proginet Corp, TransAccess, Proginet Oasis, Linking Web applications to mainframes - not disclosed (10% stake)
		* January 16: Vermeer Technologies Inc.
		* March 12: Colusa and Aspect
		* April 8: aha! software
		* April 15: EXOS Inc.
		* June 11: eShop Inc.
		* June 17: Electric Gravity Inc.
		* October 29: Panorama Online Analytical Processing (OLAP)
		* November 20: Leading Macintosh Web Server Technology
		* December 10: NetCarta

	* '''1997'''
		* Apple Computer, MacOS, Computer company - $150 million (stake)
		* Comcast Corp, , Cable company, QVC - $1 billion (10% stake)
		* Coopers & Peters, EyeOpener, Java and Smalltalk tools, add to MS AFC - not disclosed
		* Dimension X, Liquid Motion, Interactive software, key java tools - not disclosed
		* Interse Corp., Market Focus (now Usage Analyst), Web site analysis (incorporated in MS Site Server) - not disclosed
		* `LinkAge Software Inc., NotesConnector and email software, Support Microsoft Exchange on e-mail in enterprise computing - not disclosed
		* Navitel, , Internet telephone software to integrate into Windows CE & WebTV - not disclosed (minority stake)
		* Progressive Networks Inc, RealAudio, Audio/Video streaming - 10% stake
		* Trados, producer of Translators Workbench, Multilingual document production facilities for software developers. - 20% stake
		* Vxtreme, , Video streaming - $75 million
		* Web TV Networks, , Internet access device - $425 million
		* Wildfire Communications, producer of Wildfire, Voice recognition integrated into Microsoft's Outlook e-mail - Equity investment (undisclosed amount)

	* '''1998'''

	* '''1999'''

	* '''2000'''
		* June 19: Bungie, fine maker of games, such as Marathon and Halo.

	* '''2001'''
		* April: GreatPlains, maker of e-business solutions software

	* '''2002'''
		* July: Navision, maker of EnterpriseResourcePlanning software

	* '''2003'''
		* Connectix, software for machine virtualization
		* PlaceWare, maker of realtime collaboration software (similar to WebEx)

	* '''2004'''

Is it really reasonable to put much effort in creating such a list here? Just look at the following sources: Microsoft acquired a lot of companies. The list gets even longer if those are considered too, in which Microsoft only invested.

''You have a very good point. I didn't find a list on the Microsoft site, only partial ones on divers sites. At least, I have get what I want. Thanks you.''

 ''Source: http://www.microsoft.com/msft/invest.htm''
 ''Source: http://www.netaction.org/msoft/world/table.html''
 ''Source: http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~kkoster/microsoft/financial.html'' ( BrokenLink )
 ''Source: http://www.vcnet.com/bms/departments/catalog/catalog.shtml''  ( BrokenLink )