Microsoft briefly overtakes Apple to become the world’s most valuable company again

Microsoft has surpassed Apple’s market cap to become the world’s most valuable public company again. The software giant’s stock has been rallying in recent months thanks to its AI announcements. Meanwhile, there are concerns about Apple’s iPhone sales, leading to the two tech giants swapping top places for market value during trading on the Nasdaq today.

Apple stock has been trending down over the past month on the back of iPhone sale concerns in China and a potential weakness of iPhone 15 sales. Rating firms have downgraded Apple stock in recent days, wiping around $162 billion off Apple’s market capitalization in 2024 alone.

Microsoft has been riding the AI hype train for more than six months now. The company’s stock saw a noticeable bump after it announced a steep price on Copilot for Microsoft 365, its AI-powered future of Office documents. Since then, barely a week has gone by without Microsoft announcing new AI features or changes to its software and services.

Both Microsoft and Apple have been trading places for the most valuable public company for years now. Microsoft surpassed Apple’s market cap in 2021, 2020, and 2018 before Apple once again regained its place at the top. Google also briefly took over Apple’s market cap in 2016.