Microsoft has become the second US company, after Apple, to touch $2 trillion in valuation, buoyed by bets its dominance in cloud computing and enterprise software will expand further in a post-coronavirus world. Its market capitalisation topped $2 trillion during trading on Tuesday, and closed just $300 million shy of that mark.
The company touched the $2 trillion milestone in a little more than two years after it first passed the $1 trillion market cap mark. The pandemic accelerated its valuation journey as people were spending more time on their devices, boosting demand for Microsoft's computers, gaming systems and cloud computing platform.
The $2 trillion valuation is seen as a key milestone under CEO Satya Nadella's guidance. Since taking the reins in 2014, Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella has reshaped the Redmond, Washington-based company into the largest seller of cloud-computing software, counting both its infrastructure and Office application cloud units. Microsoft is also the only one of the biggest US technology companies that has so far evaded the recent wave of scrutiny from increasingly active American antitrust regulators, giving it a freer hand in both acquisitions and product expansion.
Microsoft's stock has gained 64 per cent since March 2020, when pandemic lockdowns began going into effect in the United States.
Apple's market value passed $2 trillion last August, and it currently stands at $2.24 trillion. Two other Big Tech firms, Amazon and Google are close on their heels. Amazon's market cap hit $1.77 trillion on Tuesday, and Google parent Alphabet's reached $1.67 trillion.