Microsoft

RANK33

While many Big Tech companies faced withering criticism last year for their behavior, Microsoft largely escaped scrutiny. That may be because CEO Satya Nadella has built a collection of complementary parts that perform exceptionally without being the dominant player in any new market. Microsoft’s Azure cloud service, part of the cloud business that increased revenue 34% in the calendar fourth quarter of 2020, trails Amazon. And even as it lags Sony in gaming, Microsoft’s gaming unit saw revenue jump 51% in the holiday quarter with the release of the new Xbox Series X and S. Microsoft still leads its category with the old Windows PC software business, but its PC hardware sales rank outside the top five, and in mobile phones Microsoft is just another app developer. All of this meant that Microsoft was left out of the U.S. House antitrust subcommittee's 450-page report that targeted Apple, Amazon, Facebook, and Google. Sure, there was a complaint in Europe by Slack, alleging that Microsoft had unfairly helped its Teams app. But no one’s seeking to break up the tech giant or undo its acquisitions—at least not for the moment.