Jeff Bezos - CEO, Amazon
Amazon.com was on the verge of ending the day with a stock market value higher than Microsoft’s for the first time on Wednesday 7 February, as the online shopping behemoth weathered the recent turmoil on Wall Street.
Amazon's stock was down 1.14 per cent, bringing its market capitalization to US$690.4 billion, while software maker Microsoft's 1.83 percent fall depressed its market capitalization to US$690.3 billion.
Bolstered by blockbuster quarterly results, Amazon's stock gained 3.8 per cent over the three sessions ended Tuesday, even as Wall Street struggled through a rout that has raised fears that a nine-year bull market may be ending.
Microsoft lost about 3.1 per cent over the three sessions ended Tuesday.
Amazon's market cap at points on Wednesday during intraday trade already topped that of Microsoft, but it has never closed at a higher value.
Amazon's explosive growth in retail and cloud computing has sent its shares 77 per cent higher over the past year, outpacing Microsoft's 42 percent rise.
Apple’s US$819 billion market capitalization remains Wall Street's largest, followed by Alphabet, the parent of Google, at US$736 billion.
(Reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by Leslie Adler)
