14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has finally managed to overtake Google’s parent company Alphabet to officially become the world’s third most valuable firm, now only trailing behind leaders Apple and Amazon.
Google itself surpassed Microsoft in market value six years ago, and the whole reorganization process that included the foundation of Alphabet allowed it to stay ahead of the Redmond-based software giant quite easily.
On the other hand, Microsoft’s very own transformation process that put the focus almost entirely on the cloud also propelled the firm to continuously increasing market value, until it eventually managed to overtake its long-time rival on Tuesday.
Both Microsoft and Alphabet declined this week, but the bigger drop recorded by the latter allowed the software company to become the world’s third most valuable firm. Microsoft is now worth $749 billion, while Alphabet is fourth in the charts with $739 billion market value.
The road to $1 trillion market cap
Just like Apple, Microsoft is believed to be one of the companies with the biggest chances of reaching $1 trillion market value in the coming years, again thanks to its investments in enterprise and cloud services.
Morgan Stanley said in March this year that Microsoft could hit the $1 trillion market cap even ahead of Apple, with the analyst firm setting a price target for Microsoft shares to $130.
“With Public Cloud adoption expected to grow from 21% of workloads today to 44% in the next three years, Microsoft looks poised to maintain a dominant position in a public cloud market we expect to more than double in size to >$250 billion dollars,” analyst Keith Weiss said earlier this year.
This doesn’t mean that Apple won’t grow though. The Cupertino-based tech giant is also projected to make a substantial step towards the $1 trillion market cap later this year with its revised iPhone generation that could include a more affordable model, helping the company generate an upgrade cycle and thus record substantial sales increases as compared to previous years.