Apple overtakes Microsoft and returns to the lead with a value of 3.3 trillion

It only took two days to put five months of no longer being top of the class behind us. On 11 January, Microsoft surpassed Apple in terms of capitalisation by 2.9 trillion. On 12 June, Apple made the counter-overtaking, reaching 3.3 trillion and putting itself some forty billion ahead of Microsoft (which in the meantime had risen to 3.2 trillion). It is followed by Nvidia at 3,100 billion, which a few days ago had even relegated Apple to third place. Apple, however, has gained 12% in the last few sessions, taking back the crown of the world stock market.

The breakthrough came after presenting its strategy in the field of artificial intelligence. Ai stands not only for artificial intellinge but also for 'Apple intellingence'. Beyond marketing, the company has unveiled that it will integrate Chat Gpt in its new smartphones and will also give users the option of choosing Gemini (Google's Ai) and Grok (Elon Musk's Ai). Adding to this double twist is the idea of including these features only in the new models. This could boost sales of new smartphones by regenerating an area that was showing signs of fatigue. What's more, Apple will in case produce the chips for Ai, and so in this respect should not be dependent on Nvidia. This mix of news is pleasing the market, which has returned with strong volumes to boost the share price, which has risen above $215 per share for the first time in history.

In this whole story, there are those who smile but with a bitter taste in their mouth. We are talking about Warren Buffett , Apple's largest shareholder with his Berkshire Hathaway, who recently reduced his stake in Apple by 22%, from $174.3 billion at the end of 2023 to $135.4 billion on 31 March 2024. This reduction is equivalent to the sale of approximately 115 million shares, or 13% of the total Apple shares held by Berkshire. Buffett explained that this decision is in line with a broader strategy to increase liquidity and diversify investments in an environment of high interest rates and overvalued stock prices. In addition, the proceeds from the sale significantly strengthened Berkshire's cash reserves, positioning the company favourably for potential market declines. Despite this significant reduction, Apple remains Berkshire's largest equity investment.

The fact remains, however, that at the moment Buffett, who is known for successfully anticipating markets, in this case perhaps took profit too early from his flagship company. Missing out on this new moment of glory linked to the big-name announcement in the artificial intelligence sector. Or rather, of Apple Intelligence. As they will call it in Cupertino from now on.