Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) has become only the second U.S. publicly traded company to reach a $2-trillion market capitalization.
Lifted by its cloud computing and enterprise software units, Microsoft’s share price rose as much as 1.2% in New York on Tuesday (June 23), enough for the software company to join Apple as one of only two companies with a $2 -rillion market capitalization.
Since taking the helm of Microsoft in 2014, Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella has reshaped the Redmond, Washington-based company into the largest seller of cloud-computing software, counting both its infrastructure and Office application cloud units.
Microsoft is also the only major U.S. technology company that has, so far, evaded the recent wave of scrutiny from U.S. antitrust regulators, giving it a freer hand in both acquisitions and product expansion.
Microsoft stock has gained 19% so far this year, outperforming Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), as investors piled into the stock on expectations of long-term growth for both earnings and revenue, and expansion in areas such as machine learning and enterprise software. The company’s third-quarter results, released in late April, topped expectations and demonstrated strong growth across its business segments.
Microsoft, co-founded by Bill Gates and the late Paul Allen, took 33 years from its initial public offering (IPO) to reach the $1 trillion market cap. However, it only took about two years for the company to reach the $2 trillion market cap level.
Apple made Wall Street history when it reached $2 trillion last year (2020).
