Microsoft (MSFT) shares climbed 0.8% to $467.68 on Thursday, marking the company’s first record closing high since July 2024 and reclaiming its position as the most valuable company in the world. With a market capitalization of $3.48 trillion, Microsoft edged out Nvidia ($3.42 trillion) and Apple ($3 trillion).
While broader markets declined—dragged down by a steep selloff in Tesla amid a deepening public feud between CEO Elon Musk and President Trump—Microsoft shares bucked the trend.
CEO Satya Nadella recently emphasized Microsoft’s close partnership with OpenAI in an interview with Bloomberg, reinforcing the tech giant’s continued focus on artificial intelligence. “Why would any one of us want to go upset that?” Nadella said, referencing the deep integration between OpenAI and Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform. Microsoft has reportedly invested nearly $14 billion in OpenAI.
The stock is up 11% year to date, outperforming the Nasdaq, which has remained flat.
Meanwhile, leadership changes are underway at the company. LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky will take on additional responsibilities, overseeing Microsoft’s productivity software suite—including Word, Excel, and Copilot, the company’s flagship AI assistant. According to an internal memo seen by Reuters, one of Microsoft’s key AI executives will also begin reporting to the head of the Windows division.
The company also recently started a business magazine called Signal aimed at business leaders according to Sarah Grevy Gotfredsen for Columbia Journalism Review.
Gotfredsen writes, “The first issue includes an essay by Bill Gates; a Q&A with Satya Nadella, the CEO; and a lifestyle section at the back.
“Steve Clayton, the vice president of Microsoft’s communications strategy, told me that he was inspired to launch Signal after reading an October 2024 New York Times story about the success of Costco Connection, a magazine that the retail chain launched in 1987 and is now the third-largest magazine in the country, with a circulation of over fifteen million copies each month. Signal doesn’t have quite the same ambitions in terms of reach, Clayton said, but it encouraged him to experiment with the print format.
“‘We’re in this world where everything seems so ephemeral,’ he said this week, while showing me the magazine on a Zoom call. ‘It was time to do something that was almost the opposite of that.’ The magazine’s name is a nod to cutting through the noise.”
Investors appear to be staying focused on Microsoft’s long-term AI strategy, largely ignoring the political noise rattling other tech names.
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