Microsoft briefly became the second company to reach a US$3 trillion market capitalization during intraday trading on January 24, 2024. Its shares rose as investors continued to assess the company’s cloud business and artificial-intelligence partnership with OpenAI.
Market capitalization is an equity value, not the amount of cash held by a company. It is calculated from the current share price and the number of shares outstanding, so Microsoft moved above and below the threshold as prices changed during the session.
Apple had been the first company to reach US$3 trillion in 2022. Microsoft’s milestone reflected the importance investors placed on Azure cloud computing, software subscriptions, and generative-AI products integrated into its services.
Intraday records differ from closing records. A company can touch a valuation during trading yet finish below it, which is why financial reports specify whether a milestone was intraday or measured at the closing bell.