NEW YORK
\nApple has lost its crown as the globe\u2019s most valuable public company to Microsoft this week after the iPhone-making giant\u2019s shares dropped 2%.
\nApple\u2019s shares fell 1.8% on Friday, ending the trading session at $149.80 apiece. The company\u2019s market capitalisation dropped to $2.48 trillion. Microsoft shares, however, showed 2.2% gains, reaching a record high of $331.62 per share, which propelled its market capitalization to roughly $2.49 trillion, RT reported.
\nDespite posting relatively strong earnings for its fourth fiscal 2021 quarter this week, Apple sales still plunged some $6 billion in the reporting period amid persistent supply chain problems. The company said it took in revenue of $83.4 billion, a 29% increase year-over-year, but this earnings number came in below Wall Street expectations of $84.85 billion, which led to the drop in share prices. The company\u2019s CEO Tim Cook told CNBC the impact from supply chain constraints may continue to plague Apple during the upcoming holiday sales.
\n\u201cWe had a very strong performance despite larger than expected supply constraints, [resulting from] the industry-wide chip shortages that have been talked about a lot and Covid-19-related manufacturing disruptions in Southeast Asia,\u201d Cook stated.
\nMeanwhile, Windows software maker Microsoft sees a strong end to the calendar year, the company\u2019s forecast published earlier this week states. Still, it also warns that supply chain disruptions may rub off on its performance, affecting Surface laptops and Xbox gaming consoles production.
\nOverall, Microsoft\u2019s shares gained 49% this year, brought about by increased demand for its cloud-based services during the pandemic. Apple\u2019s shares gained only 13% so far.
\nApple and Microsoft have been taking turns as Wall Street\u2019s darlings ever since 2010, with Apple holding the title of Wall Street\u2019s most valuable business since the middle of 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK Apple has lost its crown as the globe\u2019s most valuable public company to Microsoft this week after the iPhone-making giant\u2019s shares dropped 2%. Apple\u2019s shares fell 1.8% on Friday, ending the trading session at $149.80 apiece. The company\u2019s market capitalisation dropped to $2.48 trillion. Microsoft shares, however, showed 2.2% gains, reaching a record […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224514,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-224487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n