Microsoft vs Meta
The decelerating giant re-accelerated on AI — Azure +41% and a $37B AI run-rate — while capex at 35% of revenue quietly compresses the free cash flow that funds it. The deepest moat on record — blitzing from the very peak.
Meta by 5
| Item | Max | Microsoft | Meta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blitz Index total | / 100 | 73 | 78 |
| Grade | — | B | B |
| A · Speed | / 25 | 18 | 20 |
| B · Moat | / 60 | 48 | 53 |
| C · Creative destruction | / 15 | 10 | 11 |
| D · Demerits | / 30 | -3 | -6 |
The success line is 65. Demerits (section D) are subtracted; a demerit total of 15 or more flags a company for BlitzFailing watch. Scores as of the 2026 Q4 review.
Verdict — business structure only
Meta leads (78 vs 73) on every axis except demerits, where it is worse (−6 vs −3). Meta's moat (53) is the deepest in this pair — a 3.6B daily-active-people social graph with a 79.3% gross margin — while Microsoft's moat (48) is a composite lock-in (Windows, M365, GitHub, LinkedIn), the deepest in the index after Alphabet. Meta is faster (20 vs 18) at +27.7% TTM on a $228B scale, while Microsoft re-accelerated to +17.8% at $331.8B scale with Azure +41%. Both carry creative-destruction scores in the same band (11 vs 10): Threads displacing X/Twitter and AI glasses as the next interface bet, against Copilot passing 30M paid seats. The structural difference is that Meta is blitzing from the very peak of a consumer network while Microsoft is layering AI onto an installed enterprise base — and Meta's demerits (−6, Reality Labs ~$77B cumulative burn) are the price of that second bet.
Key figures
| Microsoft | Figure |
|---|---|
| Revenue | $331.8B scale |
| Growth | +17.8%; Azure +41% |
| Meta | Figure |
|---|---|
| Growth | TTM +27.7% at $228B scale |
| Gross margin | 79.3% |
| Social graph | 3.6B DAP |
Key figures are from the companies' published score files (the scorecard's English summary). A figure is shown only where the score file states it.
Full scorecards: Microsoft — Blitz Index 73 · Meta — Blitz Index 78
Run your own pairing: open this pair in the interactive compare tool, or pick any two of the 157 scored companies.
How to read this
Both companies passed the same two gates before scoring: real product-market traction (G1), and a ten-year market ceiling of at least ten times current revenue (G2). The Blitz Index then grades speed (25), moat (60) and creative destruction (15), and subtracts BlitzFailing demerits (up to −30) for debt, revenue quality, governance and regulatory cost. The model is frozen at v1.0; past scores are never silently rewritten. Our own pre-registered tests found the score measures business quality — it does not predict stock returns.
Research only — not investment advice. Scores measure blitzscaling strategy from public data. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security.