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Microsoft Corp. surpbaded Apple Inc. to become the world's most valuable publicly traded company. It only took a rout of 300 billion dollars.
After briefly taking first place on Monday, Microsoft shares rose 0.6% on Tuesday, bringing the company's market value to $ 828.1 billion at closing. That exceeded Apple's $ 1 billion worth, which dropped this month due to concerns over iPhone unit sales. The last market capitalization of Microsoft was higher than that of Apple in 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
A recent collapse of the stock market has had a negative impact on almost all technology companies. But investors have punished more consumer-oriented companies like Apple and Amazon.com Inc. than companies that primarily provide services to companies like Microsoft. It is down 6.3% since the beginning of October, while Apple has lost 23%.
For more than ten years, Microsoft has been lagging behind Apple, with computing shifting from the desktop to the mobile device like the iPhone, making Microsoft's dominance over PCs less relevant. Attempts to recover by acquiring Nokia's mobile phone business and releasing its own phones resulted in costly write-downs. It was particularly annoying for the Redmond, Washington-based company because it had already allowed Apple to survive thanks to an injection of funds in the 1990s.
The rise of cloud computing has changed Microsoft's fortunes about five years ago. Under the leadership of CEO Satya Nadella, the company has invested heavily in data centers and other infrastructure to run applications and store data for businesses.
And instead of trying to link office productivity software to its Windows operating system, Microsoft has offered it as a subscription service via the Internet and on devices from other companies, including Apple. He also stopped making smartphone hardware while improving the quality of his tablet and computer design.
Microsoft now ranks second behind Amazon Web Services in the cloud. As a result, Microsoft's actions have been isolated from concerns over declining consumer spending on devices and increased regulation by digital advertising companies such as Facebook Inc. and Google Alphabet Inc. DM
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