Microsoft is doing great. At a spry 43-years-old, the company has picked up momentum in the market. Microsoft’s market capitalization gained about 40% over the last year, buoyed by its successful software subscriptions business and cloud computing growth.
All of that helped Microsoft leapfrog Alphabet by about $13 billion in market cap last week to become the world’s third most valuable company, behind only Apple and Amazon.
The two companies’ market caps first crossed paths in 2012 when Google originally overtook Microsoft, and then again for a brief stint in October 2014.
Microsoft’s recent success can be traced back to areas where the company is growing: subscription services like Office 365 and its burgeoning cloud business. Earlier this year, CEO Satya Nadella reorganized the company into two main sectors, “Experience & Devices” and “Cloud + AI Platform” in order to focus on high-growth parts of the business.