Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has achieved its highest valuation of all time, surging above US$359 per share this week to hit a market capitalisation of US$2.67tn (£2.06tn).
The legendary Redmont technology multinational closed 3.98% higher on Tuesday after chief Satya Nadella disclosed a premium pricing model for Microsofts generative AI software suite.
Microsoft will charge customers US$30 (£23.2) per month to incorporate the Copilot AI stack into the Microsoft 365 platform that comprises Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, Powerpoint and other productivity modules.
This price point was a bigger premium than expected, and could cost up to 83% extra per month for business-grade versions of Microsoft 365.
In a press release, Microsoft said Copilot “combines the power of large language models (LLMs) with your data in the Microsoft Graph and Microsoft 365 apps to usher in a whole new way of working, using just your own words”.
Microsoft shareholders have emerged as major benefactors of the AI boom after the multinational’s investment in OpenAI, the developer behind the groundbreaking large-language model ChatGPT, made Microsoft stock an AI proxy.
Another major AI proxy, Nvidia Corporation, also surged to an all-time high this May.
The Silicon Valley chipmaker achieved a one-trillion-dollar valuation for the first time ever after its high-end graphics processing units we used to train ChatGPT.
Microsft shares: A brief timeline
Microsoft went public on March 13, 1986, with a $21 offering price that increased to $35.50 before the end of the day.
Around 2.5 million shares were sold in the IPO, raising some US$61mln.
Co-founder Bill Gates chose to sell US$1.6mln worth of shares while retaining a 45% ownership stale, valued at $350 million.
In the following decade post IPO, Microsft’s market value increased 100-fold.
Since going public, the stock has undergone seven 2:1 stock splits and two 3:2 stock splits, with the last split occurring on February 14, 2003.