Microsoft Logo 2022Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central

What you need to know

  • TIME just shared its list of the 100 most influential companies.
  • Microsoft made the list, as did Amazon, Meta, Apple, and NVIDIA.
  • TIME pointed to Microsoft's massive plans to acquire Activision Blizzard and the company's overall strong performance in its section dedicated to the tech giant.

Each year, TIME comes out with a list of the 100 most influential companies. Microsoft made this year's list, as did Amazon, Meta, Apple, and several other tech giants. According to TIME, it looks at relevance, impact, innovation, leadership, ambition, and success to determine the influence of a company.

Over the last year, Microsoft announced several major acquisitions and beat earnings expectations. The company was also very active in the political space, including speaking out about the war in Ukraine.

Here is TIME's snippet on Microsoft that summarizes why the company earned a spot on this year's list:

Xbox maker Microsoft stunned gamers in January by announcing plans to acquire Activision/Blizzard, publisher of Call of Duty and Overwatch. The company says the nearly $70 billion deal would help it serve the world's 3 billion gamers. However, the planned tie-up, which sparked a wave of similar moves across the $200 billion gaming industry, has invited regulatory scrutiny. More broadly, CEO Satya Nadella's Microsoft has been on a hot streak, beating expectations with $51.7 billion in revenue in the most recent quarter.

Microsoft was categorized in the Titans section of the list alongside Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and NVIDIA. OpenAI, which received a $1 billion investment from Microsoft in 2019 made TIME's list as well.

Microsoft's inclusion in the list is not a surprise. The tech giant was on the same list from TIME last year, and CEO Satya Nadella has been considered one of the world's most influential people by the outlet in the past.