Microsoft overtakes Amazon as second most valuable US company
Microsoft Corp regained its spot as the second most valuable US company on Friday after a disappointing quarterly report from Amazon.com wiped $65 billion off the online retailer's market capitalisation.
Apple Inc tops the list at over $1 trillion after crossing that threshold in September. Microsoft's market capitalisation was Wall Street's highest in late 1998 through early 2000 before the dot-com bubble burst.
Amazon's shares dropped 7 percent, the most in nearly three years after its holiday season sales outlook missed targets, fanning concerns that Wall Street's tech darlings are finally starting to face stronger competition.
Microsoft fell a more modest 1.1 percent in a broad technology sell-off that was also driven by a weaker-than-expected report from Google-parent Alphabet Inc, leaving the Nasdaq composite index down 1.9 percent late Friday afternoon.
Shares of Microsoft remain up nearly 4 percent from Wednesday, when the four-decade-old software company beat quarterly profit expectations, driven by its cloud computing business that competes with Amazon's.
Its stock market value on Friday stood at $823 billion, on track to close above Amazon's for the first time since April, when it gave up its spot as second largest company by market capitalization.
Amazon was worth $805 billion on Friday, after falling below Microsoft's in extended trade on Thursday. The drop was equivalent to the combined values of Target Corp and Corning Inc.
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