Apple stock rise could have meant $4.5 billion for Microsoft
- Thursday, 27 May 2010 16:38
Apple reached a major milestone Wednesday when the company's market capitalization surpassed that of Microsoft for the first time since 1990, making it the number one technology company by market cap. In the last several years, Apple has been firing on all cylinders with the launch of the iPhone and iPad while growing its Mac business to record sales. Apple's meteoric rise in stock value over the last couple years put its market cap ahead of Microsoft, whose stock has been slipping recently. Apple's good fortune could have been good for Microsoft's balance sheet, however; the software giant could have made almost $5 billion in profit had it held on to its AAPL stock for a little longer.
Microsoft's market cap rose sharply throughout the 1990s, peaking at around $556 billion at the beginning of 2000. Apple was most often referred to as "beleaguered" during that dark decade, barely rising above a few billion in market cap before Steve Jobs returned to the company in 1996. Before launching the iconic iMac in 1998, however, Steve Jobs made a deal with Microsoft to help Apple weather some tough times while it worked on launching a series of new products and returning to profitability.
