Microsoft this week surged past Google parent company Alphabet to become the world's third most valuable company. At the close of markets on May 29, Microsoft was valued at $753 billion, while Alphabet was valued at $739 billion. Through trading on May 30, Microsoft has maintained that lead.
In terms of market cap, Microsoft now sits behind Apple and Amazon, who hold onto the first and second spots, respectively. Following up Microsoft are Facebook and Tencent.
As CNBC notes, Microsoft has seen a surge of 40 percent in the past 12 months, largely driven by the company's cloud and commercial services growth. That push has seen the company's cloud offerings consistently perform well over the past several quarters, helping to drive Microsoft to $26.8 billion in revenue with its latest earnings report.
Its cloud offerings, particularly in the enterprise sector, have become an increasingly important part of Microsoft's business since CEO Satya Nadella took over. Under Nadella's watch, Microsoft has also become focused on the budding fields of AI, quantum computing, and mixed reality – all of which are seen as some of the next big frontiers in tech. The company recently drove this home with a reorganization of its teams meant to focus on AI, the cloud, and ambient computing.
It's still possible we could see Microsoft and Alphabet exchange positions again. After Google first passed Microsoft in 2012, the companies swapped spots several times. The real competition over the next several years will be to see who among Microsoft, Apple, Amazon and Google will be the first to hit a $1 trillion market cap.
