Things changed for Apple, Inc. this week, as it is no longer considered to be the world’s most valuable public company, after holding the title steady for over a year. The prestigious award now officially goes to Microsoft Corp. as of last Friday when Apple’s shares fell by 2%.
The iPhone manufacturer lost about $6 billion in sales last quarter due to the supply chain issues that are being seen by technology businesses as well as many other industries around the world. From chip shortages to factory disruptions, production has been severely affected by the pandemic for the past year and a half. The company recognizes the loss and actually expects things to get even worse during the holiday sales season.
The session ended with Apple’s shares dropping 1.8% to $149.80, meaning they had a market capitalization of $2.48 trillion. However, Microsoft showed a significant increase of 2.2% which is a record high of $331.62 for the Windows software manufacturer, ending their year with a market capitalization of $2.49 trillion.
Apple, who is known for their repurchasing of shares, has actually repurchased over $420 billion worth of shares throughout the company’s history. In fact, last April, Apple announced they would purchase another $90 billion share buyback, which continuously decreases the outstanding stock pool. This means that the company closed out its fourth quarter with a whopping 16.4 billion shares.
Microsoft has seen a substantial increase in value however, as their stock skyrocketed almost 50% in 2021. Microsoft is definitely a business that was positively impacted by the pandemic and continues to thrive. The demand for their software and high-tech cloud-based services kept people working, connected, and sales booming while many other businesses were forced to closed. Shares significantly climbed for Microsoft throughout the pandemic, while shares of Apple stock are only up 13% for this year.
Apple, Inc. was the first public company to exceed over a trillion dollars in market value, in 2018 and then again in 2020. In July 2020, it became the world’s most valuable company when it surpassed Saudi Aramco, a Saudi Arabian oil empire.
Microsoft was the first front-runner for most valuable public business until around 2010 when Apple saw its value soar with the world premiere of the iPhone. The two companies seem to alternate the lead as most valuable public company, with both businesses holding the prestigious title several times since 2020.
And while stock analysts indicate that a less than stellar holiday season is headed Apple’s way due to supply chain shortages, Microsoft announced last week that they are expecting to end the year financially strong, noting that they, too, are experiencing key parts for X-Box gaming systems and Surface Laptops.