The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the NFL's most heralded franchises, winning six Super Bowls in its history. But in recent years, the franchise has become accustomed to flaming out in the postseason.

Mike Tomlin has been at the helm since 2006 and coached the team to one of those Super Bowl titles. While Tomlin has still never ended a regular season with a losing record, it has now been eight years since he led a team to victory in a playoff game.

The Steelers are one of the most stable franchises in the league, having only had three head coaches over the past five decades. Nevertheless, the lack of recent success in the playoffs has prompted some concerns about whether Tomlin should remain in place. 

Yet Tomlin shrugged on Tuesday when asked if it feels as if the Steelers are "stuck" after they were dominated by the Baltimore Ravens in the wild-card round on Saturday.

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"Stuck is kind of a helpless feeling," the NFL’s longest-tenured coach said. "And I don’t know that I feel helpless."

STEELERS' GEORGE PICKENS MAKES STUNNING REMARK AFTER PLAYOFF LOSS VS RAVENS

Tomlin then acknowledged the disappointment everyone involved with the Steelers were feeling following the early playoff exit. "I definitely don’t feel in the mood for optimism or the selling of optimism," he said. "I don’t know that that’s appropriate. You know, it’s disappointing not to be working. And so that’s where we are."

And while changes are certainly coming to the coaching staff — most likely on defense after the Steelers were gashed during a five-game freefall through the standings — Tomlin doesn’t appear to be going anywhere as he enters the first season of a three-year extension he signed last June.

Tomlin believes he's still "capable" of helping Pittsburgh end its longest playoff victory drought since the "Immaculate Reception" more than a half-century ago.

Yet he also finds himself entering a third offseason in four years with questions at quarterback. Skylar Thompson, who signed with the Steelers on Tuesday, is the only quarterback under contract for the 2025 season. Russell Wilson, Justin Fields and Kyle Allen — all of whom played during the 2024 season — are all scheduled to become free agents when the new league year begins in March.

While Wilson and Fields both expressed interest in returning and Tomlin said the team is "open to considering those guys," there’s also the very real chance they begin 2025 with their fifth different Week 1 starter in as many seasons.

Though the offense made progress — particularly during a midseason stretch in which Wilson won six of his first seven starts — the Steelers averaged just 14.2 points during their late swoon, hardly good enough to advance to the divisional round or beyond.

Tomlin also acknowledged he understands there is discontent growing among the fanbase during what can best be described as his team’s "Groundhog Day" era.

"I understand the frustrations," he said. "And to be quite honest, I share it."

The 12th-winningest coach in NFL history — he will reach the top 10 if the Steelers win at least eight games in 2025 — doesn’t believe his message has lost its effectiveness, in part because he believes that is a small component of his job. The vast majority is on schematics, preparation and talent development and in those ways he believes the team has evolved.

"I’m open to adaptation and change and have been," he said. "And so it’s not a new discussion. It’s not like I’ve been doing the same things over (and over)."

Tomlin remains intent on trying to be a part of the solution in Pittsburgh, saying teams with job openings that might inquire about his willingness to move on should save their time.

"I have no message," Tomlin responded via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette when asked if he had a message to any team potentially looking to acquire him in a trade. "Save your time."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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• Yoon Suk Yeol, South Korea's impeached president, was arrested on Wednesday.
• This was the South Korean authorities' second attempt to arrest Yoon.
• Yoon was impeached on December 14 after he attempted to impose martial law, triggering protests.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested by investigators early on Wednesday morning, local time.

Yoon's arrest comes after weeks of attempts by South Korean anti-corruption investigators to bring him in for questioning. Yoon has repeatedly defied attempts to arrest him.

During a particularly tense standoff on January 3, investigators had to stand down after six hours when Yoon's security team barred them from taking the president.

Yoon was impeached on December 14. South Korean lawmakers voted to remove him from duties after a stunning declaration of martial law, which triggered large-scale protests and calls for his resignation.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

• Two future Ford-class aircraft carriers will be named for Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
• It's the US Navy convention to name nuclear-powered flattops after presidents, with some exceptions.
• USS Doris Miller and Enterprise are the only two Ford-class vessels not named after presidents.

President Joe Biden announced Monday that two future Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers will be named after former US presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

"Each knows firsthand the weight of the responsibilities that come with being Commander-in-Chief," Biden said in the White House announcement. "And both know well our duty to support the families and loved ones who wait and worry for the safe return of their servicemember."

US Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said the future Ford-class carriers "will serve as lasting tributes to each leader's legacy in service of the United States."

The newly named flattops follow the sea service's tradition of naming the nuclear-powered carriers after US presidents. The trend has many exceptions, including first-in-class USS Nimitz, USS Carl Vinson, USS John C. Stennis, and future Ford-class ships USS Doris Miller and USS Enterprise.

Here are the names of the first six supercarriers in the Ford class, poised to become the backbone of America's naval power for the rest of the 21st Century.

USS Gerald R. Ford

The first-in-class USS Gerald R. Ford is named after the 38th US president who office after then-President Richard Nixon resigned in the wake of the Watergate Scandal.

Ford granted Nixon a controversial pardon saying it was in the country's best interest to put an end to the "American tragedy in which we all — all have played a part," he said at the time.

The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world's largest and most advanced aircraft carrier, completed its first full deployment last January, which the Pentagon extended in response to the October 7 Hamas attacks in Israel.

The Ford and the other warships in its strike group served in part as a deterrence message for its 239-day deployment to the Mediterranean in 2023.

USS John F. Kennedy

The second-in-class USS John F. Kennedy was named after the 35th US president, sharing its namesake with the last conventional aircraft carrier built for the Navy before the introduction of the nuclear-powered Nimitz class.

The future carrier was initially set to deliver in June 2024 but was delayed a year to July 2025 so the Navy could perform more work to prepare it for deployment in the Indo-Pacific.

The Navy said the Kennedy would be equipped with "new technology and warfighting capabilities," making the future aircraft carrier the "most agile and lethal combat platform globally."

USS Enterprise

The future USS Enterprise is one of two Ford-class carriers that wasn't named after a US president. It carries on a storied name whose heritage includes the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, a decorated World War II carrier, and a brig from the Barbary War over 200 years ago.

Still under construction at Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News — the US's only aircraft carrier shipyard — the Enterprise was initially scheduled to deliver by March 2028, but the Navy's shipbuilding review found that it will now deliver by May 2030 at the latest.

In November, the Enterprise was moved for the first time at the shipyard to accommodate the construction of USS Doris Miller on the same dry dock.

USS Doris Miller

The other Ford-class carrier without a US president's name is the future USS Doris Miller.

The future supercarrier, named after US Navy sailor Doris "Dorie" Miller, is expected to be delivered a year and a half later than scheduled in early 2032.

Miller was a World War II hero of the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The mess attendant fired at Japanese aircraft with a .50 caliber machine gun on the battleship USS West Virginia and was the first Black person to be awarded the Navy Cross, the service's second-highest award for valor.

"Naming CVN 81 for Dorie Miller casts long overdue recognition to a true American hero and icon," then-Master Chief Petty Officer Russell Smith said during the ship's naming ceremony. "It also honors the contributions of African Americans and enlisted sailors for the first time in the history of American aircraft carriers."

One controversy has been that the Nimitz-class carrier John C. Stennis honors a key lawmaker behind the funding of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, who was also a longtime segregationist and opponent of the US Navy's racial integration.

USS William J. Clinton

Bill Clinton served as the 42nd president of the US, becoming the second president in US history to be impeached after Andrew Johnson in 1868. He faced charges of lying under oath and obstruction of justice in the wake of his infamous affair with then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

In his time as commander-in-chief, Clinton ordered cruise missile strikes against Iraq in retaliation for the assassination attempt on former President George H.W. Bush. He also played a key role in promoting peace in the Middle East and Northern Ireland through the Oslo Accords and the Good Friday Agreement.

The name of the future CVN 82 was announced in a private ceremony shortly after the new year, during which former President Clinton's daughter, Chelsea Clinton, was announced as the carrier's sponsor.

"It's never far from my mind that the precious freedoms Americans enjoy are safeguarded by our armed forces, anchored by a strong, modern, and agile Navy," Clinton said in a statement. "I'm honored that future servicemembers carrying on that proud tradition will serve on a carrier bearing my name."

USS George W. Bush

The sixth Ford-class carrier will bear the name of former President George W. Bush, whose presidency was defined by the 9/11 attacks and the launching of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

He implemented domestic counterterrorism measures and built a worldwide coalition to dismantle terrorist groups globally.

"I am honored that my name will be associated with the United States Navy and a symbol of our Nation's might," Bush said in a statement. "I have a special admiration for the men and women of our Navy — including my dad — and ask God to watch over this ship and those who sail aboard her."

The 10th and final Nimitz-class carrier was named after Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, who served as the 41st president of the US. The elder Bush was honored for his service as one of the youngest naval aviators serving in World War II, receiving military decorations like the Distinguished Flying Cross, three Air Medals, and the Presidential Unit Citation.

CVN 82 and CVN 83 will be the fifth and sixth carriers to join the Navy's fleet in the coming decade, but they are not yet under construction, nor have contracts been issued to HII's Newport News.

In a briefing last week, Christopher Kastner, CEO and president of HII, urged the US Navy to follow its shipbuilding timeline to procure USS William J. Clinton by 2028 as planned to avoid supply chain and workforce issues.

Princess Kate Middleton announced that she is officially in remission while sharing an update on her cancer journey. In a statement shared via Instagram on Tuesday, January 14, the 43-year-old thanked the staff of The Royal Marsden in the U.K. for their help throughout her treatment. “My heartfelt thanks goes to all those who have quietly walked alongside William and me as we have navigated everything. We couldn’t have asked for more. The care and advice we have received throughout my time as a patient has been exceptional,” she wrote. Kate initially revealed in March 2024 that she was diagnosed with a form of cancer after undergoing abdominal surgery. By September 2024, she had completed her chemotherapy treatments. Kate noted on Tuesday that it’s “a relief” to be in remission, adding, “As anyone who has experienced a cancer diagnosis will know, it takes time to adjust to a new normal.” Keep reading for more of Us Weekly’s top stories:

• After Jessica Simpson confirmed her split from husband Eric Johnson, Us is revisiting all the signs indicating that the pair were no longer together.
• In her new book, Brooke Shields opened up about why she decided to part ways with the Hallmark Channel after signing a 16-film deal with the network in 2014.
• Taylor Swift subtly sent love to pal Brittany Mahomes, who recently welcomed her third baby with Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
• Jinger Duggar recalled filming 19 Kids and Counting with her now-husband, Jeremy Vuolo, revealing that they reshot an important relationship milestone.

Sign up to get daily news via email and follow Us on Instagram or Facebook for more news, exclusive interviews and intel, red carpet dispatches and beyond.

Brazilian Olympian Bruno Lobo rescued a drowning woman off the coast of Sao Luís, Brazil on Jan. 10, and gave all the credit to God for putting him in position to perform the heroic deed. 

"The day that God used me as an instrument to save this young woman, all honor and glory to Him," wrote in a post on Instagram (translated from Portuguese). 

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Lobo, who is also an orthopaedic doctor, competed in kite surfing at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He is also a two-time Pan American Games champion. 

At the time of the rescue, he was busy training, he said in the video. Lobo claimed that he went into the ocean at around 5:40 p.m. local time "to do the last test." 

"It was a cloudy day, wind conditions were not the best, but I decided to test the support that had arrived, it was the first day using this material, I set the camera to record and went towards the coast," he said in the video.

Then he saw her. 

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"After sailing a few meters, I heard a cry for help and looked at the girl who was drowning. I quickly approached her with the kite. I tried to calm her down and asked to climb on my back. She was quite tired and without power. I used the equipment to bring her safely to the sand," Lobo continued.

Lobo used his gear to help bring the woman back to shore, and then lifeguards gave her further assistance.

World Sailing released a statement commending Lobo's heroics on Monday. 

"Olympic kitesurfer Bruno Lobo jumped into action when he spotted a woman struggling in the ocean while training with his new camera off the coast of São Luís, Brazil. Using his kite, he carried her safely to shore," the statement read. "Great job Bruno."

Bruno concluded his video with a warning to fans and viewers. 

"Be warned about the dangers of the sea, rivers and any place you don’t know because the current in some places tends to be very strong!"

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Them's fightin' words. 

The House Oversight Committee devolved into chaos on Tuesday after Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., challenged Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, to a fight. 

"If you wanna take it outside, we can do that," Mace said.

The squabble was sparked when Crockett said "child, listen" during a back-and-forth about civil rights, women's rights and transgender rights.

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"Somebody's campaign coffers are struggling right now. So she gon' keep sayin' ‘trans, trans trans’ so that people will feel threatened and child, listen," Crockett said. 

Mace erupted in anger. 

"I'm no child! Do not call me a child! I'm no child. Don't even start," Mace said, interrupting Crockett. "I'm a grown woman. I'm 47 years old. I've broken more glass ceilings than you ever have… You will not do that. I'm not a child… If you wanna take it outside, we can do that."

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The two talked over each other as House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., attempted to control the chaos as he slammed his gavel. 

"Order! Order! Order!," members could be heard saying.

Crockett later attacked Republicans, accusing them of going after "the most vulnerable in our country." 

She said, "Trans people ain't goin' no where. Just like when the racists wanted to make sure that Black people somehow were going to be dismissed in this country. We ain't left either."

Mace later took to X to continue her war of words with Crockett. 

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"I’m no child. And if I wanted a physical fight, you’d know it. That’s not what this was," she wrote. "I won’t be bullied by someone who wants to take away women’s rights while lecturing about civil rights. I won’t be bullied by someone who thinks being scared of rape is a ‘fantasy.’ This ain’t political, it’s personal."

Mace further attempted to clarify her comments in a statement to Fox News Digital.

"There’s been a lot of speculation about my intentions during a heated exchange on women’s rights earlier today on Oversight," she said in the statement. "Let me be clear: I wanted to take the conversation off the floor to have a more constructive conversation, not to fight. At no point was there any intention of causing harm to anyone. I was just assaulted by a pro tr*ns man a few weeks ago and am still in physical therapy for my injuries. I know firsthand how the Left is capable of doing real physical harm. I will not be bullied into submission, I will not be called names by my colleagues like I was today, I will not be belittled, or invalidated—especially as a rape survivor. I will always stand up for women and push back against left-wing extremism that seeks to silence our voices and dismiss our rights."

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Crockett also took to X to address the exchange, writing, in part: "Today, I introduced an amendment to reinstate the Oversight Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. My Republican colleague threatened to physically fight me about it. Bless her heart."

Crockett's office also fired back at Mace, claiming it was clear Mace was threatening physical violence against Crockett.

"It was clear that Rep. Mace was threatening physical violence against Congresswoman Crockett as part of her performative, ridiculous meltdown," Crockett's office said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "Her slur-ridden screed exemplifies exactly why the House Oversight Committee needs to pass Congresswoman Crockett’s amendment to reinstate the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Congresswoman Crockett ignored her obvious, desperate baiting – if Rep. Mace wants to raise money off of the back of a qualified Black woman, she can try someone else." 

The brouhaha between Mace and Crockett happened on the same day the House passed a bill banning transgender athletes from participating in women's sports at schools that receive federal funding. 

Two House Democrats voted alongside Republicans to pass the Protection of Women and Girls In Sports Act. Reps. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, and Vicente Gonzales, D-Texas, were the lone Democrats to vote for the bill when it passed 218 to 206. Rep. Don Davis, D-N.C., voted "present."

Fox News Digital's Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.

Expect a traffic jam in the Senate soon as the race is on to confirm President-elect Trump’s cabinet nominees.

In short, nothing can happen until President-elect Trump takes office on Jan. 20.

Yes, there will be plenty of Trump loyalists attending various inaugural balls around town.

But once the inauguration festivities conclude at the Capitol, the Senate will get down to business. A handful of committees are already angling to schedule "markups" to potentially discharge or send various nominations to the floor. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has already teed up a meeting for 3:15 pm et on January 20 for the nomination of Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to be Secretary of State. And if the custom holds, the Senate will confirm at least a few of Mr. Trump’s nominees just hours after he takes the oath of office.

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Let history be our guide:

The Senate confirmed Trump’s Defense Secretary James Mattis and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly on the evening of January 20, 2017. The next confirmation didn’t come until January 31, 2017. That was Elaine Chao, wife of former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), to be Transportation Secretary.

In 2021, the Senate confirmed one of President Biden’s nominees shortly after he was sworn-in. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines was the first Biden nominee confirmed – on the night of January 20, 2021. The first, full cabinet-level vote did not come until January 22, when the Senate confirmed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

So, while everyone is trying to squeeze into their tux on Monday night, look for the Senate to potentially vote on a nominee or two on the evening of January 20th.

Fox is told that the most likely candidates might include Rubio – since he is a known quantity in the Senate and has bipartisan support. Another possibility would be CIA Director nominee John Ratcliffe. The Senate previously confirmed Ratcliffe as the Director of National Intelligence during the first Trump Administration. He is also a known entity in the halls of Congress and served as a Republican congressman from Texas. His hearing is on for tomorrow.

Frankly, the ambitious timetable of approving several of the nominees quickly could be challenging.

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The Senate Energy Committee had to postpone Tuesday’s confirmation hearing for Interior Secretary Doug Burgum from Tuesday until Thursday due to delays over paperwork. Veterans Affairs Secretary nominee Doug Collins is not controversial. He is a former GOP congressman from Georgia. But his confirmation hearing for Tuesday was pushed back until next week. Collins may have been one figure who could have been confirmed quickly.

Attorney General nominee Pam Bondi is also one who could secure relatively speedy confirmation. Her hearing is Wednesday and Thursday. So maybe next week for her? Unclear.

But let’s examine the track record of the Senate confirming President Biden’s nominees and place it against expectations for the new Trump Administration.

After Lloyd Austin, the Senate confirmed Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on January 25, 2021, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on January 26. Most cabinet officials weren’t confirmed until February or March. The Senate did not confirm Interior Secretary Deb Haaland until March 15, 2021, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra until March 18, 2021, and Labor Secretary Marty Walsh until March 22, 2021.

You get the idea.

Every nominee must go through a hearing. Committees have different rules about how they discharge a nomination to the floor. So that could consume some time as well. Some nominees could be bottled up in committee, depending on opposition or attendance problems. Then there may be debate on the floor.

THE POLITICAL FIRESTORM THAT'S ABOUT TO SINGE CAPITOL HILL

If Democrats filibuster a nominee, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) may need to tee up a procedural gambit to break filibusters. The process of just initiating a procedural vote to break a filibuster consumes parts of three days alone. If a nominee’s opponents still don’t relent, it’s possible that senators could drag out debate on a nominee for day or two – even though the Senate has broken a filibuster.

In February 2017, Mike Pence became the first Vice President to break a tie to confirm a cabinet official. He did so to confirm former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.

In other words, floor time is at a premium. There are various parliamentary "meridians" for when the Senate can take certain procedural votes to advance a nominee. That’s why the Senate took a procedural vote at 7 am on the DeVos nomination in February 2017. The Senate also confirmed then Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price around 2 am one morning.

And we haven’t even gotten to other nominations which are important to the Administration – such as Pete Hoekstra to be Ambassador to Canada or Mike Huckabee to serve as Ambassador to Israel. There are more than 800 positions which require Senate confirmation.

To accelerate things, the Senate could confirm some swaths of non-controversial nominees "en bloc." That means the Senate clears the nominees on both sides to make sure there are no objections. If there are none, the Senate compiles a list and confirms a group of nominees together in one fell swoop.

But this is a long and tedious process. Confirming various positions in the Trump administration is going to take months. It consumes hours of floor time. That’s the most precious commodity in the Senate. Keep in mind that the push to confirm Trump nominees comes as the Senate is trying to work out a time agreement and amendments to pass the Laken Riley Act and a bill to sanction the International Criminal Court over its arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

This is a monster process. And it will likely consume some early mornings, very late nights and even some weekend sessions before this is settled.

• TechCrunch has cut staff amid "evolving needs," the company told Business Insider.
• The Washington Post, HuffPost, and Vox Media have all conducted layoffs in 2025.
• Publishers face headwinds as many advertisers favor Big Tech.

TechCrunch is the latest digital publisher to cut staff.

A spokesperson for the outlet, which focuses on tech and startup coverage, confirmed the reductions to Business Insider and said fewer than 10 employees were impacted.

"We're excited about the future of TechCrunch," the spokesperson said in a statement, adding the company was "making changes to some roles that no longer fit our evolving needs."

They said the company would continue to grow and hire.

"This adjustment reflects our commitment to aligning our team structure with our business goals and not a cost-cutting effort," they added.

No other Yahoo properties were impacted, the spokesperson said.

Many media organizations continue to face headwinds, contending with falling traffic and advertisers increasingly turning to Big Tech.

Some have cut staff already this year.

Last week, Vox Media laid off staff for the second time in roughly a month.

BuzzFeed-owned HuffPost slashed roughly 22% of its newsroom last week, or 30 jobs, The Wrap and The New York Post reported. HuffPost's editor-in-chief, Danielle Belton, resigned amid the cuts.

The Washington Post is also eliminating less than 100 employees in an effort to cut costs, Reuters reported last week. A spokesperson for the Jeff Bezos-owned paper told the outlet cuts would occur across multiple divisions, but wouldn't impact the newsroom.

• Microsoft is a software company known for products like Windows, Microsoft 365, and Xbox.
• Microsoft is one of the largest software companies in the world by market cap.
• Microsoft was co-founded by Bill Gates, and the company is now led by CEO Satya Nadella.

Microsoft is one of the world's largest software companies, with annual revenues nearing $250 billion in recent years. Among its many products and platforms are the programs Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, used by private citizens and corporations all over the world, and the Windows operating system, the most widely-used computer OS by a vast margin.

The company was founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, with the latter leaving Microsoft in 1983 following a diagnosis of Hodgkin disease. Gates would stay on as CEO of the company until 2000, when he voluntarily stepped down, largely to focus on his charitable work with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Gates was replaced by Steve Ballmer as the new Microsoft CEO, serving until he was in turn replaced by Satya Nadella in 2014. Under Nadella's guidance, the company has grown ever more profitable, though there have also been many massive layoffs across Microsoft.

Here's a look in greater detail at Microsoft's history, its many products and services, its financial successes and stumbles, and the foundation its profits helped create.

Microsoft's history

William Henry Gates III, better known as Bill Gates, had a preternatural talent with software, writing his first programs while a young teenager growing up in Seattle, Washington. By the time he graduated high school and went off to Harvard, Gates had already formed a business partnership with his friend and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

This was a data analysis venture called Traf-O-Data that employed computers in parsing through information collected by roadway traffic counters. Traf-O-Data was not a business success, but it was the precursor to the Microsoft Corporation, which Allen and Gates founded in the spring of 1975.

Initially based in Albuquerque, as Gates and Allen had been working for the New Mexico-based company Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems, the Microsoft headquarters moved to Bellevue, Washington, in early 1979, seeing its founders return to a location near their childhood turf.

The following year, 1980, was a pivotal one for Microsoft because the technology giant IBM awarded the company a contract that saw a Microsoft operating system used in the vaunted IBM Personal Computer, or PC. This was MS-DOS, the premier OS for several years, supplanted only by Windows, released in 1985, and one of the first graphic interface operating systems the world had ever seen.

Windows would become the dominant computer operating system over the next few decades, during which Microsoft also released software that would become wildly successful, such as the aforementioned Word and Excel, as well as PowerPoint.

Microsoft also developed its an email platform, known as Outlook, and even created a search engine named Bing, and so much more.

Microsoft's software

Microsoft released Microsoft Office — today rebranded as Microsoft 365 — in 1990, and soon the word processing and spreadsheet software therein included (namely Word and Excel) would become all but essential for office employees, students, writers, accountants, and myriad other people around the world.

But Microsoft hardly stopped with these more basic programs. The company would also develop OneDrive, a cloud data storage platform, Microsoft Azure, an advanced cloud computing service that lets you use powerful computers remotely, and Microsoft Copilot, the company's foray into the new and rapidly expanding world of artificial intelligence.

Many companies rely on Microsoft software, such as Teams, which helps people communicate, stay on schedule, and share files and documents, while many individuals rely on the advanced web browser Microsoft Edge to enhance the efficacy of their online searches.

Microsoft's software is so commonly used, and expertise in its programs have become so valuable, that the company even offers Microsoft certifications for IT specialists and developers who work with platforms like Microsoft 365 and Azure.

Beyond work and productivity software, services, and platforms, there is another arena in which Microsoft plays an outsized role: gaming.

Microsoft in the gaming world

Microsoft has been in the video game world since 1979, when "Microsoft Adventure" was released. It was a text-based problem-solving game with a feel not unlike a "Dungeons & Dragons" session.

Throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, the company would churn out many video games, but few were mainstream successes save for the many versions of "Microsoft Flight Simulator," which was first released in 1982.

It wasn't until Microsoft got into the console gaming world that true gaming success arrived. Designed to compete with Sony's successful PlayStation video game console, the Xbox was first released in 2001 and would become one of the most popular gaming platforms on the planet.

Now in its fourth generation of console, the Xbox's most popular games include the franchises "Call of Duty," "Grand Theft Auto," and "Fortnite," to name but a few.

Microsoft has added to its success and reach in the gaming world beyond its own original creations as well; it has also acquired heavy hitters in the space. For example, in September of the year 2014, Microsoft bought Mojang, maker of the popular gaming property "Minecraft," for $2.5 billion.

And then, in October 2023, the software juggernaut bought the gaming giant Activision Blizzard for the staggering sum of $68.7 billion. These were not Microsoft's only acquisitions, of course.

Microsoft acquisitions over the years

While Microsoft had acquired many other brands, products, and companies before the year 1997, that year marked its first major and highly visible move of the kind when Microsoft bought the popular email platform Hotmail for a $500 million, which is nearly a billion dollars today.

Hotmail was eventually rolled into Microsoft Outlook, though you can still get and use a Hotmail email address today.

In 2011, Microsoft made another powerful move when it acquired the video chat platform Skype, this time in a multibillion-dollar move.

In 2016, the software company laid out a hefty $26.2 billion to buy LinkedIn, the widely used professional networking and social media platform.

And in 2018, Microsoft acquired GitHub, a code developing platform, for the tidy sum of $7.5 billion. All of these acquisitions involve huge numbers, of course, as does the wealth of Microsoft's founder and the endowment of the charitable organization he established with his then-wife, Melinda Gates.

Bill Gates and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation by the numbers

At last check, Bill Gates' net worth was around $106 billion, making him, the former richest person in the world, not even in the top 10 richest list. He ranked 14^th richest, per Forbes, as of late 2024.

Gates has given tens of millions of dollars away, largely to his own nonprofit organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is focused on issues ranging from endemic diseases in developing nations to safe water supply issues and combatting hunger.

Married for 27 years prior to a divorce in the summer of 2021, Bill and Melinda Gates sat together on the board of their eponymous foundation for many years and even for three years following the marital split, though Melinda Gates finally departed the foundation in June 2024.

The foundation, which has offices in multiple countries across four continents, employs more than 2,000 people and has an endowment of more than $75 billion. According to data sourced from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation itself, in recent years it has offered charitable support between $7 and $8 billion, and the foundation had issued more than $77 billion in grant payments since its inception through the year 2023.

That's all an impressive amount of money, to be sure, and given for noble causes, but it pales in comparison to the profits of the Microsoft Corporation, profits that are often maintained thanks to harsh rounds of employee layoffs.

Microsoft finances, revenues, careers, and layoffs

Microsoft went public with its IPO in 1986 at a price of $21 per share. In the decades since, Microsoft stock pricing has swelled exponentially, and the company's total market cap — which is the entire value of a company's outstanding shares — reached an astonishing $3 trillion dollars by late 2024.

For a bit of perspective, that is larger than the annual gross domestic product of almost every nation on earth — were Microsoft's market cap placed on the scale with GDP, it would rank between France and Germany.

For the 12-month period ending in June 2024, Microsoft earnings were around $245 billion — in a one-year period, to be clear, the company generated nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars. It's no wonder, then, that Microsoft careers are highly sought after.

But jobs, though often lucrative, are also often tenuous. Microsoft's layoffs are often notorious for their size. For example, in the early fall of 2024, the company cut 650 workers from its gaming division only a few months after slashing 1,900 employees from its Activision Blizzard and Xbox departments.

In 2023, the company cut a huge swath of its labor force, dropping 10,000 workers. This was not the biggest layoff, though: between 2014 and 2015, the company axed nearly 20,000 employees. This was following the problematic acquisition of the telecom company Nokia, which also saw the exit of then-CEO Steve Ballmer.