Microsoft overtook Apple as the world’s most valuable public company in January 2024.
Microsoft briefly moved ahead of Apple in market capitalization in January 2024. The change reflected Microsoft’s strong share-price performance and investor enthusiasm about its cloud-computing business and artificial-intelligence partnership with OpenAI.
Microsoft’s modern valuation rests on several large businesses, including Windows, Office, Azure, Xbox, LinkedIn, and enterprise software. Azure’s growth was especially important because cloud infrastructure is central to many AI services and corporate workloads.
The top position has changed repeatedly between Microsoft and Apple. Such rankings are not permanent titles: they depend on daily share prices, the number of shares outstanding, stock buybacks, and currency movements. A company can lead briefly without being larger by every measure of business activity.