Move over Apple: Microsoft is now the most valuable publicly traded company

NEW YORK –

Microsoft is again on prime.

After trailing behind Apple for almost all of the previous decade, Microsoft is the world’s most precious publicly traded firm as of market shut on Friday.

The tech large’s inventory (MSFT) closed at US$388.47 a share on Friday, giving it a market capitalization of US$2.89 trillion. Apple’s inventory (AAPL) closed at US$185.92 a share, for a market capitalization of US$2.87 trillion.

Market capitalization — or market cap — is the overall worth of all of the shares of a publicly traded firm. In different phrases, it’s the market worth of the corporate.

Microsoft’s rise to the highest comes after the corporate had a stellar yr because of its success with generative synthetic intelligence.

In 2023, the firm’s CEO, Satya Nadella, made a multi-billion greenback funding in AI, together with commercializing and including AI instruments like ChatGPT into its suite of merchandise earlier than rivals.

He even strengthened Microsoft’s ties to ChatGPT maker OpenAI, a serious pioneer within the discipline of synthetic intelligence, throughout a board and management upheaval on the smaller firm late final yr.

Apple, in the meantime, is dealing with a barrage of issues. iPhone gross sales are slowing partly due to the Chinese authorities’s reported efforts to limit purchases (Beijing denies it has put any restrictions in place). That’s helped Chinese smartphone maker Huawei to realize market share.

Apple additionally not too long ago contended with a temporary ban from promoting the most recent Apple Watch fashions within the United States.

Microsoft declined to remark, whereas Apple didn’t return CNN’s request for a remark.