back to article Microsoft surpasses Apple as world's most valuable biz, by stock price at least

Microsoft on Friday surpassed Apple as the world's most valuable publicly traded company in the world after the iPhone maker reported underwhelming earnings on Thursday. The Windows biz took the top spot – which Apple has held since July 2020 when it surpassed Saudi Aramco (which is largely government-owned) – because Apple's …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Childcatcher

    Hardware

    Clouds run on hardware too. You can't keep on stuffing data in without expanding it. Eventually it may start to rain and if you aren't careful it may not stop raining until the entire cloud has vanished and drained into the aquifers.

    Make sure you do your backups, cloudy users.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hardware

      Sure, but you don't need to sell a new model each year, and users largely buy software features.

  2. Jason Hindle

    A reminder Apple is late to services

    Between Azure and O365, Microsoft shows that money for for old rope is the best money you can make. It has always been thus. I believe one of the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition was along the lines of “If a thing is worth selling, it is worth selling twice” though I expect that would have involved Peter, Paul, a mugging and a murder.

    1. AndrueC Silver badge
      Facepalm

      Re: A reminder Apple is late to services

      I believe one of the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition was along the lines of “If a thing is worth selling, it is worth selling twice”

      You do know that there the Ferengi are a fictional species, right?

      1. ITS Retired

        Re: A reminder Apple is late to services

        Who do you think is running Microsoft, Apple, ISP's, etc?

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    apart from trading places one quarter with ExxonMobile

    I am so going to sign up with ExxonMobile. I thought that my phone company was tops at screwing me, but hybridise them with an oil company, and folks: we have a new winner.

    Dare I suggest ExxonBATMobile?

    1. Snowy Silver badge
      Holmes

      You forgot to say your adding in a Tobacco company too!!

      Fun reading their website:

      <quote>

      Using science to increase understanding

      World-class science

      Science and innovation are at the heart of our transformational journey as we continue to build A Better Tomorrow™ by reducing the health impact of our business.

      </quote>

  4. Lunatic Looking For Asylum

    Diversification Needed by Apple

    M$ have effectively re-invented themselves over the last few years. Almost nobody buys their stuff anymore, they rent it and effectively make M$ a none state tax entity, HMRC where the M is for Microsoft. Apple are currently exploiting their monopoly position i.e. locking every apple user into the system, but that is all they have. If you take away the iPhone name, there is very little of substance for them to fall back on. They got lucky with the phones, M$ got lucky with the desktop, M$ have moved on and are reaping the 'rewards' (AKA screwing the gullible in another manner) Apple are sitting on their laurels.

    Sadly while we have a brain dead corporate model that favours OPEX (lets give our money to somebody else) over CAPEX (lets innovate and do stuff ourselves) these two corporations will continue to prosper and laugh all the way to the bank.

  5. G R Goslin

    I think you have to look into history, a bit more

    Here, in the UK, most of the old industries have gone. Not particularly because they were no longer making things, but that the companies were being bought and sold. They were bought with borrowed money, which meant that output was further burdened with paying the interest on the loan, never the capital! To finance this, development was strangled, more efficient methods were rejected as too costly. The carried on, for a while, until the customers walked around them to a better product, from a new maker. I used to work for such a firm in the East Midlands. Exciting days, new and better products came out of Design. The future was assured. The value of the companies went up, making them a target for takeover. After being bought and sold a few times, the drive went out of the window, and it was a long drop into ruin. I left, just in time, and watched as once proud companies died The last time I looked, the factories which had covered most of the city had gone, replaced by a couple of "Industrial Estate" units peddling spare parts. Such successful parts of the enterprise that remained, had been shipped off to other countries, leaving a mere token behind. It was a bit like the "War Reparations", in the other direction.

  6. big_D Silver badge

    I love the market analysts...

    "We had a record quarter!"

    "Yeah, but not as good as we said you would do, so we'll take your stock down a peg or two as punishment!"

    No, this isn't in defence of Apple, this is just about the stupidity of the markets. A company forecasts turnover and profit, and exceeds what they forecast, but an analyst says they should have made even more is correct? No wonder there is no sustainability built into modern business.

    1. goldcd

      That's just because

      if you miss your revenue prediction you get a massive kicking, whilst if you exceed it you get a pat on the back and ability to award each other another bonus.

      So everybody low-balls their forecasts, so the analysts ignore them. Instead they come up with a figure that they think you should be making and it's on this the market prices your shares.

      Or looking at it another way, unless you miss your projections as often as you exceed them - your projections aren't accurate and are pointless.

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