Microsoft could soon become only the second American company ever to command a $2 trillion market capitalization. The computing giant's stock price climbed more than 1% on Thursday, boosting its market cap to a record high of $1.9 trillion. If the shares rise another 5%, Microsoft would join Apple in the exclusive $2 trillion club. Microsoft is approaching the milestone thanks to its stock's recent outperformance. Its shares are up about 17% this year after leaping 60% in 2020. Moreover, they have surged more than five-fold since Satya Nadella replaced Steve Ballmer as the company's CEO in 2014. Despite its recent gains, Microsoft isn't threatening to replace Apple as the most valuable US public company just yet. The iPhone maker's market cap stood at $2.2 trillion on Thursday, and briefly topped $2.4 trillion in January. Amazon and Google's parent company Alphabet, which boast market caps of around $1.7 trillion and $1.5 trillion respectively, are also in the running to be the next $2 trillion company. Microsoft, founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975, has become one of the most powerful companies in the world. Its key products include its Windows operating system, Office software suite, Azure cloud-computing service, Surface tablets, and Xbox gaming consoles. It's also made several billion-dollar acquisitions including Skype, Minecraft-maker Mojang, and LinkedIn over the past decade.
In late January the company reported a "blowout" quarterly performance, having benefited from the shift to work-from-home.
Revenues shot up 17% year-over-year to $43.1 billion, beating analyst estimates by nearly $3 billion.
