Microsoft briefly became the world’s most valuable public company during a January 2024 stock-market surge.
Microsoft overtook Apple in market capitalization during January 2024 trading, helped by investor enthusiasm about artificial intelligence and Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI. The lead changed as the two companies’ share prices moved, so it was a market-ranking event rather than a permanent title.
Microsoft’s cloud division, Azure, became a major growth engine alongside Windows, Office, and business software. Its AI strategy connected new tools such as Copilot with existing enterprise products.
Market-cap rankings are snapshots. They can differ by data source because exchanges close at different times, share counts are updated, and some rankings use intraday prices while others use closing prices.