Apple overtakes Microsoft as biggest tech company

Seattle, May 27: Apple Inc, the biggest providers of iPods, iPads and iPhones shot past the computer software giant, Microsoft, making a stunning twist in the business history.

Apple's shares rose as much 2.8 percent on Nasdaq and Microsoft shares floundered, briefly pushing its market value above USD 229 billion, on Wednesday, May 26. During the late-day sell off, Apple emerged ahead with a market value of about USD 222 billion, compared with Microsoft's USD 219 billion, reports Reuters. Apple shares closed down 0.4 percent at USD 244.11 on Nasdaq, while Microsoft fell 4 percent to a seven-month low of USD 25.01.

Shares of Apple are worth more than 10 times what they were 10 years ago, as it has profited from revolutionizing consumer electronics with its stylish, easy to use products such as the iPod, iPhone and MacBook laptops.

The last time Apple had a higher market value than Microsoft was December 19, 1989.Apple, which struggled for many years to

get its products into the mainstream, resorted to a USD 150 million investment from the much larger Microsoft in 1997 in order to keep it afloat. At that time, Microsoft's market value was more than five times that of Apple.

Microsoft leads Apple, the Claifornian based company, in sales. Microsoft reported USD 14.5 billion in revenue compared with Apple's USD 13.5 billion, in the latest quarter.

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