download (7).jpg (Photo : Reuters)
Microsoft, a U.S.-based multinational technology firm, overtook ExxonMobil, an American oil and gas company, as the second most valuable company next to Apple Inc.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has proven to be a strong leader for the firm this year. The CEO reformulated the company's budgeting while also downsizing jobs.
Nadella pledged to put more effort into developing the company's mobile technology, which it did through the acquisition of the Nokia Lumia line of smartphones.
Nadella's methods in reshaping the technology giant has been successful so far as the firm's stock sales rose, bringing the total market value of Microsoft over $410 billion on Nov. 14. The figure stumped ExxonMobil's $404 billion due to the recent stability problems in oil prices.
"Microsoft has made a strategic change," said tech analyst Daniel Ives from FBR Capital Markets.
Ives said that the Microsoft CEO still has room to improve, especially in the personal computer sector where Microsoft was originally known for.
Ives also lauded the tech firm for adapting to the current trends, comparing Microsoft to other tech juggernauts such as Oracle, Hewlett-Packard and IBM.
However, Apple still takes the top rank as the most valuable firm worldwide. Its value is worth over $660 billion, which is higher than Microsoft's peak record of $616 billion in Dec. 1999 when it held the top spot that fell abruptly the next year.
Microsoft saw a rapid growth of around 70 percent in stocks within the past 18 months starting April 2013.
ValueAct Capital, which acquires large stakes in thriving firms, bought $2 billion worth of shares from Microsoft.
Nadella then started working on plans of Microsoft's cloud computing expansion, which he believes is more profitable than the firm's software sector.
Additionally, he pledged to redesign the widely used Windows OS, and then he launched the mobile versions of the OS for tablets and smartphones.
Microsoft's share price reached its peak, since 2000, at $50.04 on Nov. 14, but it declined to $49.50 afterward.
