Microsoft first surpassed a $1 trillion market capitalization during trading on April 25, 2019.
The company’s share price rose after Microsoft reported quarterly revenue and profit that exceeded market expectations. Because market capitalization moves continuously while markets are open, Microsoft passed the threshold intraday before the closing valuation was calculated.
Microsoft was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Its early success came from software such as MS-DOS and Windows, but its later valuation growth was strongly linked to cloud computing, especially the Azure platform, as well as Office subscriptions and enterprise services.
A market-cap milestone is not the same as a revenue milestone or a cash-raising event. Microsoft’s crossing also occurred after Apple had already closed above $1 trillion in 2018, making the wording “first during trading” important.