Microsoft overtook Apple to become the world’s largest market capitalization – Liberation

Microsoft on Thursday overtook rival Apple for a split second as the world’s largest market capitalization. This will finally be the case for at least this weekend. On Friday evening, the software giant ended the day with a market valuation of $2.89 trillion, while Apple moved into second place in the world to close with $2.87 trillion. However, this is the first time since November 2021 that Microsoft has closed with a higher value than Apple, which has been the majority leader in the sector for ten years.

The Redmond (Washington State) group is riding the momentum of AI and has a partnership with OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, of which it controls about half of the capital. Since the advent of ChatGPT, Microsoft has launched several products allowing businesses and individuals to use the capabilities of generative AI, notably through its Bing search engine or the Copilot virtual assistant. For its part, Apple is penalized by market concerns about its ability to maintain the frenetic growth it has displayed for decades. “Microsoft has a much clearer roadmap for artificial intelligence and has done a great job explaining how it will accelerate its growth and make its long-term prospects more attractive.” declared Bloomberg David Katz, Chief Investment Officer of Matrix Asset Advisors.

The result: Since the launch of the so-called generative artificial intelligence (AI) interface ChatGPT in early November 2022, Microsoft’s shares have risen nearly 75%. At the same time, the Apple firm had to be “satisfied” with a 35% increase. Complaints of major players against Microsoft viz New York Times For the European Commission for ChatGPT or Teams software, not stirred.

Forecasts impacted financial analysis as Apple was hit by at least three analyst rating downgrades, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. In early January, an analyst at Barclays Bank significantly cut his recommendation on the stock, particularly concerned by a slowdown in iPhone 15 sales in China, Apple’s main market. On Wednesday, it was the turn of Redburn Atlantic, in turn, to revise its opinion to “neutral”, while it had been buy until now, on fears of limited growth in the coming years and mixed results for the current quarter.

This news should also be put into perspective. Since January 2022, Apple has, on several occasions, surpassed the symbolic threshold of $3,000 billion in capitalization. But the group routinely buys back large shares and cancels the securities once they are in its possession, which mechanically reduces the number of shares in circulation and the market capitalization. However, Bloomberg claims that Microsoft could surpass $3,000 billion in market valuation this year, joining Apple as one of only two companies. And consolidate Microsoft and Apple’s position as the two major players in the S&P 500 index, well ahead of oil giants Saudi Aramco, Alphabet (the Google group) and Amazon, respectively.