Microsoft overtakes Apple as world's most valuable company

Microsoft overtook Apple as the world’s most valuable company on Thursday after the iPhone maker began 2024 with its worst start in years due to growing demand concerns.

Microsoft overtook Apple as the world's most valuable company on Thursday after the iPhone maker began 2024 with its worst start in years due to growing demand concerns.

Shares of Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft rose 1.5%, giving it a market valuation of $2.888 trillion as its early lead in the race to make money from generative artificial intelligence helped draw investors.

Apple was 0.3% lower with a market capitalization of $2.887 trillion - the first time since 2021 that its valuation has fallen below that of Microsoft.

The Cupertino, California-based company's stock has slid 3.3% so far in January as of last close, compared with a 1.8% rise in Microsoft.

The weakness in Apple follows a series of rating downgrades that have fanned worries that sales of the iPhone, its biggest cash cow, would stay weak, especially in major market China.

"China could be a drag on performance over the coming years," brokerage Redburn Atlantic said in a client note on Wednesday, pointing to competition from a resurgent Huawei and Sino-U.S. tensions that have increased pressure on Apple.

The brokerage added Apple's services business — a bright spot in recent quarters — faces threats as regulators deepen scrutiny of a lucrative deal that makes Google the default search engine on iOS.