Microsoft overtook Apple as the world’s most valuable publicly traded company in November 2021. Microsoft’s market value rose as investors rewarded its cloud-computing business, especially Azure, while Apple faced supply-chain concerns.
The ranking changed because market capitalization moves with share prices, not because either company issued a special valuation announcement. Microsoft and Apple have repeatedly exchanged the top position during periods of changing technology-sector sentiment.
Microsoft was founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Its transformation from a personal-computer software company into a cloud and subscription business was central to its later market-cap growth.