Microsoft Topples Exxon As Apple Wins World’s Most Valuable Company 2014

Friday, 5 December 2014

Microsoft Topples Exxon As Apple Wins World’s Most Valuable Company 2014

Microsoft saw its market value increase to around $410 billion today, while Exxon Mobil, which was previously the second-most valuable company, now has a market cap of about $400 billion.

Microsoft’s stock has increased more than 30 percent in the last year as the company has undergone a series of changes under new CEO Satya Nadella.

“Microsoft has made a strategic change,” said Daniel Ives, a tech analyst at FBR Capital Markets. He said Nadella still faces challenges with a company that’s heavily reliant on the declining personal computer market. But compared with other longtime tech stalwarts, such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Oracle, “Microsoft has done the best job of trying to skate where the puck is going,” Ives said.

Meanwhile, Apple is currently the world’s most valuable company, with a market capitalization of more than $668 billion. That’s more than the $616 billion that Microsoft was worth when it was No. 1 in December 1999. Microsoft shares fell sharply the next year.

Google is valued at about $374 billion; Facebook is at $208 billion; and Amazon is at $149 billion.