Giving Apple a run for its money, one analyst thinks Microsoft may be the first tech company to reach a market value of $1 trillion. Despite the fact that the Redmond-based giant's market value currently trails both Apple and Alphabet, analyst Michael Markowski of Equities.com (via GeekWire is bullish on Microsoft's potential for growth in the coming years.
Markowski's reasoning boils down to a number of factors, but one major reason he sees Microsoft surpassing Apple and Alphabet to be the first to hit the $1 trillion milestone is because of the firm's recent LinkedIn acquisition. According to Markowski, LinkedIn not only gives Microsoft a leg in the business social media sphere, but also puts the company a unique position to leverage the burgeoning crowdfunding market — an area Markowski sees as the next big avenue of growth on the internet:
The acquisition positions Microsoft to be a leader in the emerging Social Investing Community (SIC) industry, which is the key to online equity crowdfunding becoming ubiquitous. The SIC industry is in its infancy. However, my prediction is that by 2025, it will rank in size and scope right along with the digital search and social media industries.
Previously, Apple was favored as the most likely candidate for the first company to cross the $1 trillion threshold after it became the first U.S. firm to pass a market value of $700 billion in early 2015. Since then, its growth has been tempered somewhat. As of this writing, Microsoft's market cap sits at around $491 billion, which sits just behind Apple and Alphabet at $617 billion and $548 billion, respectively.
Microsoft has certainly been moving in the right direction under Satya Nadella's reign as CEO, and continued success with its software services, Surface hardware and whatever new arenas the company decides to explore in the coming years could well propel Microsoft towards Markowski's predictions.
