Microsoft has overtaken Apple to become the world's most valuable public company, after its market value increased by more than $1 trillion over the past year.
According to Bloomberg , at the end of the trading session on January 11 (US time), Microsoft's stock value increased by 1.5%, raising the company's market valuation to 2.9 trillion USD, higher than Apple's 2.87 trillion USD.
Microsoft shares have risen 57% in value in the last year alone, driven by investor optimism about the company's artificial intelligence division and the success of ChatGPT.
“It’s simply the AI generation now,” said Brad Reback, an analyst at investment bank Stifel. “Creative AI will impact all of Microsoft’s businesses, while Apple doesn’t have much of an AI outlook right now.”
Microsoft surpasses Apple to become the world's most valuable company. (Photo: Fifthperson)
This isn't the first time Microsoft has overtaken Apple in recent years. It did so in 2018, as its cloud business began to grow in 2021 while the COVID-19 pandemic impacted Apple's supply chain.
The first iPhone, launched in 2007, propelled Apple to market leadership. Between 2009 and 2015, the company's sales grew from 20 million iPhones a year to more than 200 million.
As device sales have slowed in recent years, Apple CEO Tim Cook has shifted the company's focus from selling more iPhones to selling users more apps and services on their existing iPhones. This strategy has helped Apple's annual revenue soar to $383 billion, nearly four times what it was at the end of 2011.
But Mr. Cook’s strategy has shown signs of fatigue, with the iPhone becoming known more for incremental improvements each year than for groundbreaking innovations. At the same time, iPad and Mac purchases have declined, and revenue growth from services like Apple Music has slowed.
Last year, the company's revenue fell for four consecutive quarters, even as Apple's stock rose about 50%.
Wall Street analysts predict weak iPhone sales this year. The company is facing challenges such as declining consumer demand, a ban on Apple Watch sales in the US and investigations related to the deal to make Google the default search engine on iOS.
In addition, China - the company's third largest market after North America and Europe - is also witnessing a clear decline in demand for Apple products, facing fierce competition from Huawei - China's largest telecommunications technology group, as well as the slow recovery of the country's economy over the past year.
Hoa Vu (Source: NYTIMES)
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