Microsoft Surpasses Exxon as 2nd Most Valuable Co.

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class="story-header"> <div id="story-meta" class="story-meta "> <h3 class="kicker"> <span class="kicker-label"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150502160225/http://www.nytimes.com/pages/business/index.html">Business Day</a></span> </h3> <h1 itemprop="headline" id="story-heading" class="story-heading">Microsoft Surpasses Exxon as 2nd Most Valuable Co.</h1> <div id="story-meta-footer" class="story-meta-footer"> <p class="byline-dateline"><span class="byline" itemprop="author creator" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person">By <span class="byline-author" data-byline-name="THE ASSOCIATED PRESS" itemprop="name">THE ASSOCIATED PRESS</span></span><time class="dateline" datetime="2014-11-14">NOV. 14, 2014, 2:54 P.M. E.S.T.</time> </p> <div class="inside-story"> <span class="menu-label">Inside</span> <ul class="inside-story-menu"></ul> </div> </div> </div> </header> <div id="story-body" class="story-body"> <div class="lede-container"> <div class="lede-container-ads"> <div id="XXL" class="ad xxl-ad marginalia-anchor-ad nocontent robots-nocontent"><a class="visually-hidden skip-to-text-link" href="#story-continues-1">Continue reading the main story</a> </div> <div id="MiddleRight" class="ad middle-right-ad marginalia-anchor-ad nocontent robots-nocontent"><a class="visually-hidden skip-to-text-link" href="#story-continues-1">Continue reading the main story</a> </div> <div id="MiddleRightN" class="ad text-ad middle-right-ad marginalia-anchor-ad nocontent robots-nocontent"></div> </div> </div> <div id="byline-sharetools-container" class="byline-sharetools-container"> <div id="sharetools-story" aria-label="tools" role="group" class="sharetools theme-classic sharetools-story " data-shares="email,facebook|Share,twitter|Tweet,save,show-all|more,ad" data-url="https://web.archive.org/web/20150502160225oe_/http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/11/14/business/ap-us-microsoft-no-2.html" data-title="Microsoft Surpasses Exxon as 2nd Most Valuable Co." data-media="" data-description="The bull run in Microsoft's stock this past year has helped the tech giant surpass Exxon Mobil and seize the rank of the second most valuable company, behind Apple Inc." data-publish-date="November 14, 2014"> <a class="visually-hidden skip-to-text-link" href="#story-continues-1">Continue reading the main story</a> <span class="sharetools-label visually-hidden">Share This Page</span> <div class="ad sharetools-inline-article-ad hidden nocontent robots-nocontent"> <a class="visually-hidden skip-to-text-link" href="#story-continues-1">Continue reading the main story</a> </div> <div id="MiddleLeft" class="ad middle-left-ad hidden nocontent robots-nocontent"> <a class="visually-hidden skip-to-text-link" href="#story-continues-1">Continue reading the main story</a> </div> </div> </div> <p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="187" data-total-count="187" itemprop="articleBody" id="story-continues-1">SAN FRANCISCO — The bull run in Microsoft's stock this past year has helped the tech giant surpass Exxon Mobil and seize the rank of the second most valuable company, behind Apple Inc.</p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="490" data-total-count="677" itemprop="articleBody">Under new CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft has worked to overcome its reputation as a clumsy behemoth struggling to keep up with new tech trends and consumer habits. Nadella has cut expenses — and jobs — while pledging to refocus the company on mobile technology and cloud computing. His efforts have fueled a stock surge that drove Microsoft's total market value above $410 billion on Friday. That leapfrogged Exxon's value of $404 billion, which has been dinged by the drop in oil prices.</p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="396" data-total-count="1073" itemprop="articleBody" id="story-continues-2">"Microsoft has made a strategic change," said Daniel Ives, a tech analyst at FBR Capital Markets. He said Nadella still faces challenges with a company that's heavily reliant on the declining personal computer market. But compared with other longtime tech stalwarts, such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Oracle, "Microsoft has done the best job of trying to skate where the puck is going," Ives said.</p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="249" data-total-count="1322" itemprop="articleBody" id="story-continues-3">Apple is currently the world's most valuable company, with a market capitalization of more than $668 billion. That's more than the $616 billion that Microsoft was worth when it was No. 1 in December 1999. Microsoft shares fell sharply the next year.</p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="408" data-total-count="1730" itemprop="articleBody" id="story-continues-4">But the Redmond, Washington company has earned greater cachet on Wall Street over the last 18 months. Its stock has risen nearly 70 percent since April 2013, when activist investment firm ValueAct Capital announced it had taken a $2 billion stake in the company and would scrutinize its strategy. Within a few months, longtime CEO Steve Ballmer announced plans to retire. The move was described as unrelated.</p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="404" data-total-count="2134" itemprop="articleBody">Since then, Nadella has announced new initiatives to expand in cloud computing, which promises to be more lucrative than the traditional model of selling software that is installed on clients' computers. Microsoft has also promised a redesign of its flagship Windows operating system and released versions of other popular software for smartphones and tablets, including devices made by competitor Apple.</p><p class="story-body-text story-content" data-para-count="258" data-total-count="2392" itemprop="articleBody">Microsoft shares have outperformed the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite Index, which gained about 45 percent in the same 18-month period. 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Microsoft Surpasses Exxon as 2nd Most Valuable Co. - NYTimes.com