Microsoft Corp Surpasses Apple As World's Most Valuable Company

JAKARTA - Apple Inc was forced to lose its crown as the world's most valuable publicly-traded company to rival Microsoft Corp on Friday, October 29. This happened because the iPhone maker's stock fell about 2%.

Apple took a $6 billion hit to its sales during its fiscal fourth quarter due to persistent global supply chain problems, which have led to the beating of Wall Street expectations. Apple boss Tim Cook said the impact would be worse in the current holiday sales quarter.

"Compared to its FAANG counterparts (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google) who are less focused on hardware, Apple is also more prone to supply chain disruptions," said Sophie Lund-Yates, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

Apple shares fell 1.8 percent to end the session at $149.80 a share, giving the company a $2.48 trillion decline in market capitalization. In contrast, shares of Windows software maker Microsoft rose 2.2% to a record high of $331.62, ending the session with a market cap of $2.49 trillion.

Apple, which has bought back $421.7 billion of stock over the years, announced a massive $90 billion share buyback in April. As a result, the pool of outstanding shares continued to shrink, and the company ended its fiscal fourth quarter with 16.4 billion shares.

Microsoft shares have soared 49% this year, with pandemic-induced demand for cloud-based services driving sales. Apple shares have gained 13% so far this year.

Apple's stock market value overtook Microsoft in 2010 as the iPhone made it the world's premier consumer technology company. The companies have taken turns being the most valuable business on Wall Street in recent years, with Apple holding the title since mid-2020.

Analysts say Apple has been managing supply chain issues well, but with Cook warning of more pressure, the door is open to hitting its performance as the holiday season kicks off.

By contrast, Microsoft on Tuesday forecast a strong end to the calendar year. But it also warns that supply chain woes will continue to plague key units, such as those that manufacture Surface laptops and Xbox game consoles.