Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella leaves after attending a meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, on April 30, 2024.
Microsoft has abandoned a decades-long tradition of calling out the names of its rivals in regulatory documents.
When the 50-year-old technology company released its annual report Wednesday, the 101-page document contained zero references to longtime foes Apple and IBM . Nor did it mention privately held challengers such as Anthropic or Databricks.
Last year's Microsoft annual report officially designated over 25 companies as competitors. The names of Microsoft's enemies have appeared in its annual reports at least since 1994.
The omission means Microsoft is breaking from a common industry practice. Apple , Meta and Nvidia all namedrop the companies they go up against.
It's not universally followed, though. Amazon has not identified competitors in annual reports since 1999. Tesla last did it in 2020, and Alphabet halted after 2022.
Now, Microsoft just says it faces competition in a wide variety of markets, including productivity software, PC operating systems and cloud infrastructure.