One of the largest companies in the world, Microsoft, could be the next biggest company if reports are to be believed. Led by Satya Nadella, Microsoft is said to be growing at a faster rate, considering the acquisitions and new product launches.
Microsoft acquired LinkedIn this year for $26.2 billion in an all cash deal, that could be one of the reasons for an even quicker growth. According to analysts, Microsoft could be the first company to hit the $1 trillion market capitalization.
As of now, Apple has the highest market cap at $618 billion, Alphabet at $548 billion and Microsoft, holding the third position, at $494.6 billion. Amazon and Facebook rank fourth and fifth with market caps of $366 billion and $343.1 billion, respectively. Clearly, the LinkedIn deal seems to be the stem of all these expectations.
The report by Geekwire said, “Microsoft will do it by leveraging LinkedIn to become a leader in social media and the emerging crowdfunding industry. A pair of rulings from the US Securities and Exchange Commission this year opened up crowdfunding by letting companies directly advertise to the public.”
Right now, a lot of people will be investing into Microsoft because of the increasing stock prices, and larger returns in the future. Compared to MSFT, Apple and Alphabet haven’t shown such a steady increase. Microsoft hit the highest stock price in October 2016, which proves a good growth under CEO Satya Nadella.
“And allowing those who are not accredited investors — those making more than $200,000 a year or with a net worth in excess of $1 million – to participate in more types of investments,” it further added.
Acquiring LinkedIn has also given MSFT a platform to run the whole business social media website on its own, which is a monopoly as it is. No other company has dared to venture into it and no one probably will, which gives it extreme supremacy.
Amazon possibly second in the race
Another report by Business Insider claims that Amazon might be the first company to hit the $1 trillion mark. Of course there is nothing that could define what company will hit the mark first, but a few notable acquisitions and expansions can help us to calculate it.
Amazon has more than doubled its market cap in the last 18 months, which is a huge growth for an e-commerce company, that has ventured into so many verticals. From the Prime service, to video-on-demand and drone service, Amazon has opened up to so many new challenges, with ease.
With a 25% growth year over year, Amazon could be expected to hit the $1 trillion cap in the next 5 years, faster than Microsoft and Apple. It is the single largest global online marketplace, though not a monopoly, but is growing at a faster pace than Apple, Alphabet and Microsoft.
Some analysts have even predicted Amazon’s market cap at $3 trillion in the next decade, which shows the confidence of investors in the company. As Amazon adds more dimensions of revenue, the race becomes more intense. Before we know it, another sixth company might join the race to become the market cap leader in a couple of years.
By 2020, we should be able to have a definite answer of who will hit the $1 trillion market cap, till then we can only see the sway of investors across the industry leaders.