14 DAY TRIAL // Gone are the days when Microsoft had no rival in terms of market value among the companies in the United States.
The software giant has dropped to the number three spot among top technology players, being now valued less than not just Apple but also IBM.
And by the looks of it, the software giant’s slide will continue, especially taking into consideration the trend over the past years.
A year ago, there was a shift in the tech world, with Apple grabbing the crown from Microsoft. On May 26th, 2010, Wall Street valued Apple at no less than $222.12 billion and the once dying company slid past Microsoft which was only worth an estimated $219.18 billion.
At the time, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Steve Ballmer had shrugged off the relevance of the new tech king pointing out that the software giant continued to be the most profitable company in the world.
Fast forward a year, and Apple has grown so much that it is now not only worth more than Microsoft, but also earning more revenue and more profit.
For the third fiscal quarter of 2011, Microsoft announced revenue of $16.43 billion, and operating income of $5.71 billion and net income of $5.23 billion.
For the same period, Apple announced revenue of $24.67 billion and net profit of $5.99 billion.
Not only this, but at the start of this week, Apple’s market value was no less than $309 billion. By comparison, Microsoft’s market cap stood at just $203.7 billion, a consistent drop from a year ago.
In fact, if the trend continues, in 2012, if not even sooner, Apple will be worth twice as much as Microsoft.
Meanwhile, the Redmond company is no longer even the runner up in the tech world, since IBM’s market value is now estimated at $203.8 billion, having surpassed Microsoft’s $203.7 billion.