Microsoft has become the most valuable public company after surpassing Apple’s market cap on Friday. As Reuters reports, the market capitalization of Microsoft stood at $2.49 trillion, while the Cupertino giant came close at $2.48 trillion. Notably, Microsoft is crossing Apple’s market capitalization for the first time in almost a year.
Microsoft is the Most Valuable Public Company
According to the report, Apple’s shares hit $149.80 after a 1.8% dip when the market closed on Friday. On the other hand, Microsoft’s share price witnessed a 2.2% increase to reach $331.62. Apple’s drop in market cap happened after the company’s recent quarterly results didn’t meet the expectations of analysts in the fourth fiscal quarter. Apple reported a $6 billion loss in the fourth quarter due to supply chain woes and expects the situation to get severe in the December quarter.
“We had a very strong performance despite larger than expected supply constraints, which we estimate to be around $6 billion. The supply constraints were driven by the industry wide chip shortages that have been talked about a lot, and COVID-related manufacturing disruptions in Southeast Asia,” Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC.
Meanwhile, Microsoft’s earnings call that highlighted positive results in Office, Windows, and cloud services has helped it emerge as the most valuable public company. The Redmond giant reported a $45.3 billion revenue, a net income of $20.5 billion, and an operating income of $20.2 billion. It will be interesting to see if Apple manages to reclaim its position as the most valuable company later this holiday season.
