The technology giant Microsoft has Corp surpassed Apple Inc to become the world’s most valuable publicly traded company with a $300 billion rout.
After becoming the top company in the world, Microsoft shares rose 0.6 percent Tuesday, pushing the company’s market value to $828.1 billion at the close. The last time Microsoft’s market capitalization was bigger than Apple was in 2010.
Microsoft fell behind Apple as computing shifted from desktop machines to mobile devices like iPhones, making Microsoft’s PC dominance less relevant. However, the company has made to the top spot and proved to be the topmost.
The rise of cloud computing changed Microsoft’s fortunes about five years ago. Under Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella, the company invested majorly in data centers and other infrastructure to run applications and store data for corporate customers.
With this, Microsoft is now second behind Amazon Web Services in the cloud. That’s insulated Microsoft’s stock from worries about declining consumer spending on devices and increased regulation of digital advertising businesses like Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google.
Also, instead of trying to tie Office work productivity software to its Windows operating system, Microsoft offered it as a subscription service over the internet and on other companies’ devices — including Apple’s.