As of noon ET on Friday, Microsoft’s market cap was $2.46 trillion. Apple’s? 30 billion dollars shy of this, at $2.43 trillion.
For Microsoft, regaining the number one position from Apple had become an infrequent affair in the last ten years. Since Apple surpassed Microsoft in 2010—despite having far less volume of the global personal computing market—the Redmont-based company has managed to pass its Cupertino-based rival only a handful of times. The last time was in July 2020.
MSFT’s gain over AAPL follows the latter’s fourth fiscal results being perceived as disappointing, with a revenue shortfall of around $6 billion on account of supply chain disruptions that have affected every industry that relies on the use of a semiconductor.
Microsoft too has suffered from the supply chain crunch, but less so as it is less hardware focused than Apple. The stock has also gained from the recent announcement of Windows 11, its first major update to Windows in over five years, as well as with strong growth in its cloud-based services. So while MSFT has gone up by over 45 per cent this year, Apple has climbed by 15 per cent.
