REDMOND (dpa-AFX) - Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), albeit for a brief period, on Tuesday, crossed the $2 trillion market capitalization milestone. The stock, however, later slipped slightly and failed to close the regular trading sessions with its market value above the threshold.
Shares of Microsoft traded as high as $265.79 on Tuesday's regular trading, above the $265.55 price required for the coveted $2 trillion valuation. MSFT closed its regular trading at $265.51, up $2.88 or 1.10%, on the Nasdaq.
Microsoft became the second U.S. company after tech giant Apple Inc. (AAPL) to have a market capitalization above $2 trillion. Apple is now worth about $2.2 trillion. Microsoft's stock price has gained over 19% this year, compared to Apple's 1% and Amazon.com Inc.'s 7%.
Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975, to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800. It rose to dominate the personal computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by Microsoft Windows. It is considered one of the Big Five companies in the U.S. information technology industry, along with Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook.
Under Nadella's watch, Microsoft has successfully switched from a software-focused company to a dominant leader in the cloud business. Azure cloud computing, productivity, and gaming divisions have driven the company's growth to record revenues and earnings. The acquisitions of the business social network LinkedIn, source code-sharing site GitHub and video-game developer Zenimax have also contributed to the rise.
During the pandemic period, Microsoft witnessed strong demand for its cloud-computing service, workplace-productivity solutions, and personal computers. The company's third-quarter results trumped expectations driven by strong growth across its business segments.
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