[derangedHorse]

It's probably included because of the sky-high salaries they offer since FAANG is typically an acronym used to refer to top software companies to work for. From what I've heard from friends, Microsoft typically pays the least out of all the companies that make up the acronym and their technologies are also seen as less trendy than the other companies listed.

[saurik]

I had always heard Apple as the outlier for low salaries, not Microsoft.

https://medium.com/@paysa/tech-salaries-who-pays-more-micros...

[ma2rten]

That is not the origin of the term. It was coined by Jim Cramer for fast growing stocks.

[koolba]

And before that he had his “four horsemen”: https://www.barrons.com/articles/BL-TB-5933

(Note this article is from Jan of 2008): > In today's trading, all four stocks are down steeply: Apple: Down $26.65, or 17.1%, to $128.99. Amazon: Down $7.56, or 9.6%, to $70.92. Google: Down $48.15, or 8.2%, to $536.20. Research In Motion: Down $8.47, or 9.4%, to $81.61.

Even writing off RIMM to zero would give you a healthy return through 2021.

[iseanstevens]

Is that accounting for splits? Apple (for example) has split 28:1 since that time, making the equivalent price today around 4K/share.

[jannes]

He was quoting the article, but he messed up the formatting so it’s not very obvious that “today” refers to 13 years ago.

[square_usual]

That's why Microsoft isn't in the acronym!

[sand500]

MS pays less than Amazon?

[amelius]

How can Microsoft be less trendy if they publish way more research?