14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has made quite a few important investments lately and together with the appointment of a new CEO, they led the company to a stock price of $41 (€30.1) on June 16, after several months below $35 (€25.7).
According to Forbes data, this boost led to an increase of $342 billion (€250 billion) in market capitalization, while the existing market share is in line with the stock price estimate.
As compared to what most people think, Windows is no longer Microsoft's cash cow. Office is now the product that generates the biggest amount of money for Microsoft, with the productivity suite bringing back around $24 billion (€17.6 billion) in calendar year 2013. An increase to $30 billion (€22 billion) by 2020 is expected, analysts said.
The Windows operating system is currently the third largest division in Microsoft's yard after the server unit, accounting for 14 percent of the aforementioned stock value, according to the same aforementioned source.
In the meantime, Microsoft continues the transition to a devices and services firm and with the help of the new CEO Satya Nadella, but also of Bill Gates, who returned to the company as a technical adviser, the company is well positioned to boost profits on the long term.
Redmond invests much more money in hardware, a different side of the market which hasn't yet been explored by Microsoft at its full potential, but it remains to be seen how fast it actually manages to turn it into an important source of revenue.