Microsoft is edging closer to becoming the world’s most valuable company.

Apple currently leads the way with a market cap of $2.89 trillion, although its rivals are closing in with a market cap of $2.79 trillion. That’s despite Apple gaining a larger gain over the last 30 days, having grown by $68.2 billion compared to Microsoft’s $51.7 billion.

Microsoft has been heavily investing in AI of late, most recently teaming up with Siemens to drive cross-industry adoption for artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, Apple has experienced a 30% drop in sales in China – their third-largest market – in the first week of 2024.

There is still a $100 billion difference in valuation between the two companies but that’s relatively small when you consider how much each company has moved in value over the last month.

It does appear, at first glance, that Apple will hold off Microsoft for some time, though. Today (January 9) they are seeing a 2.42% increase in share price, as opposed to Microsoft’s 1.89%. This may be down to January 8’s announcement that Apple’s Vision Pro will hit stores in February, with pre-orders set to open on January 19.

However, both companies have experienced a decline in share price over the last 30 days, the only two to do so in the stock market in the top 13 most valuable companies in the world.

There is only one other company in the world that can boast a market cap of more than $2 trillion, which is oil giant Saudi Aramco.

How do Apple and Microsoft compare to others in the stock market?

Fellow tech giants Google ($1.75 trillion), Amazon ($1.54 trillion) and Meta ($921.7 billion) are some way behind the aforementioned juggernauts of the tech industry when it comes to market cap.

Meanwhile, Walmart lead the way for pure revenue with $638.8 billion, followed closely by Amazon with $554 billion. In comparison, Apple’s revenue stands at $383.3 billion and Microsoft only brings in over $218 billion.

Featured Image: Photo by Matthew Manuel on Unsplash

James Jones

Freelance Journalist

James Jones is a highly experienced journalist, podcaster and digital publishing specialist, who has been creating content in a variety of forms for online publications in the sports and tech industry for over 10 years. He has worked at some of the leading online publishers in the country, most recently as the Content Lead for Snack Media's expansive of portfolio of websites, including Football Fancast.com, FootballLeagueWorld.co.uk and GiveMeSport.com. James has also appeared on several national and global media outlets, including BBC News, talkSPORT, LBC Radio, 5 Live Radio, TNT Sports, GB News and BBC’s Match of the Day 2. James has a degree in Journalism and previously held the position of Editor-in-Chief at FootballFanCast.com. Now, he co-hosts the popular We Are West Ham Podcast, writes a weekly column for BBC Sport and covers the latest news in the industry for ReadWrite.com.