Apple Inc shot past Microsoft Corp as the world’s biggest technology company based on market value on Wednesday, the latest milestone in the resurgence of the maker of the iPhone, which nearly went out of business in the 1990s.
Apple’s shares rose as much 2.8 per cent on Nasdaq on Wednesday, as Microsoft shares floundered, briefly pushing its market value above $229 billion, ahead of its longtime rival.
Both stocks ended down after a late-day sell-off, but Apple emerged ahead with a market value of about $222 billion, compared with Microsoft’s $219 billion, Reuters data shows.
Shares of Apple are worth more than 10 times what they were 10 years ago, as it has profited from revolutionising consumer electronics with its stylish, easy to use products such as the iPod, iPhone and MacBook laptops. The last time that Apple had a higher market value than Microsoft was December 19, 1989. Microsoft, whose operating system runs on more than 90 per cent of the world’s personal computers, has not been able to match growth rates from its heyday 1990s.
—Reuters