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The shares of General Motors Corp. climbed into record territory on Tuesday, after the automaker said it was partnering with Microsoft Corp. to speed up the marketing of driverless cars.
As part of the “long-term strategic relationship”, Microsoft will join General Motors GM,
as well as Honda Motor Co. Ltd. HMC,
7267,
and institutional investors for a new combined investment of $ 2 billion in GM Cruise’s autonomous vehicle start-up. GM said the investment brought Cruise’s “after-money valuation” to $ 30 billion.
GM stock climbed 9.4% in morning trading, trading well above its all-time Jan. 14 close at $ 51.53. Microsoft shares MSFT,
increased by 0.5%.
GM stock has now risen 31.3% so far this year, as investors reap the benefits of GM’s all-inclusive move into the electric vehicle market. Since the start of the year, GM has outperformed other electric vehicle manufacturers as shares of Tesla Inc. TSLA,
increased by 18.6% and the Chinese company Nio Inc. NIO,
climbed 17.4%.
Don’t miss: GM Steps Up Electric Vehicle Projects As It Runs To Catch Tesla.
Cruise will use Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform to market its autonomous vehicles at scale, while Azure will use Cruise’s industry expertise to enhance product innovation and serve its transportation customers.
“Microsoft is a great addition to the team as we move towards a future world of zero accidents, zero emissions and zero congestion,” said Mary Barra, GM of GM. “Microsoft will help us accelerate the commercialization of Cruise’s all-electric and autonomous vehicles and help GM reap even more benefits from cloud computing by launching 30 new electric vehicles around the world by 2025 and creating new businesses and services to stimulate growth. ”
GM’s Cruise valuation is now approaching that of Ford Motor Co.F,
which has a market cap of $ 40.3 billion. Still in EV space, NKLA by Nikola Corp.,
the market capitalization is $ 7.7 billion.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said: “Advances in digital technology are redefining all aspects of our work and our lives, including the way we move people and goods. As Cruise and GM’s preferred cloud, we’ll apply the power of Azure to help them evolve and integrate autonomous transportation. “
GM’s tock has climbed 64.0% in the past three months, while the S&P 500 SPX index,
gained 10.5%.
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