Microsoft
inched past the $3 trillion market capitalization level on Thursday for the first time, joining
Apple
as the only other U.S. company to ever reach that milestone.
As of Thursday’s close, Microsoft had a valuation of $3.009 trillion, just slightly ahead of Apple at $3.002 trillion.
Microsoft reached the $1 trillion level in April 2019, 8,351 days after it went public on March 13, 1986, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
Another 543 days later, Microsoft reached $2 trillion, hitting that level in June 2021. It took another 650 days from there to reach $3 trillion.
Microsoft shares have appreciated 7.7% in the first weeks of 2024, boosting their 12-month rally to 68%. In 2023, Microsoft and Apple both increased their valuations by $1 trillion, the only two companies to ever accomplish that feat.
According to Dow Jones Market Data, Microsoft has a higher market cap than the bottom 196 companies in the
S&P 500
combined.
Both Apple and Microsoft have a $1 trillion lead over Saudi Aramco, the Saudi Arabian state oil company, which is worth about $2 trillion.
Alphabet
is the third-largest U.S. company by market cap, at $1.9 trillion.
Rounding out the rest of the 13-digit club are
Amazon
at $1.63 trillion,
Nvidia
at $1.5 trillion, and
Meta Platforms,
which just this week reached a valuation of $1.01 trillion.
There aren’t many obvious candidates for the next company to reach $1 trillion in market cap—
Berkshire Hathaway
is closest at $828 billion, trailed by
Taiwan Semiconductor
at $604 billion, Eli Lily at $596 billion, Tesla at $581 billion,
Broadcom
at $575 billion, and
Visa
at $560 billion.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at eric.savitz@barrons.com
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