IBM Knocks Microsoft To Become Second Most Valuable Technology Company

We all know that Apple, Inc is the most valuable technology company nowadays. We also know that Microsoft is the second most valuable technology company.

Correction: Was!

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) has passed Microsoft to become the second most valuable technology company, a sign of the paradigm shift away from the personal computer. IBM’s shares have risen an astonishing 34% as compared to Microsoft’s 3.9% in the past year. IBM now stands at a $214 billion worth while Microsoft landed third at $213.2 billion.

Microsoft lost it’s crown to rival Apple Inc more than a year ago, which now stands at $362 billion following a huge demand for it’s phones, tablets and computers. Microsoft’s peak came in late 1999 when it stood at a whopping $600 billion value but since then, it has trended downwards to now stand at $213.2 billion. Both Apple and IBM were left for dead nearly a decade ago due to Microsoft’s monopoly in the software market and now both companies have completed huge comebacks to dethrone the de facto software king of the 1990s.

IBM, which completed a century of existence this June, has undergone a complete makeover during the last ten years, recovering from the loss of almost a monopoly in computing. Current IBM CEO Samuel Palmisano made some hard decisions to drop IBM’s PC business and move into other technology services, business software and premium hardware, allowing IBM to come back to life in the post-personal computer era.

The decline in Microsoft shares is a sign of investor concern that it’s Windows and Office services might be in jeopardy as rivals Apple and Google get stronger day by day. Micrsoft’s efforts in new markets like internet, mobile phones and tablet PCs have not met with much success either.

How IBM Dug A Hole For Itself

More than thirty years ago, IBM’s mainframes dominated the computer industry.

Then IBM launched what it called personal computers. And Bill Gates convinced IBM to use Microsoft’s operating system for it’s PCs, while letting Microsoft retain the rights to the OS. This helped launch Microsoft’s Windows Empire, while contributing to IBMs downfall years later.

Now IBM has completed a total comeback, defeating the company that brought it down. Microsoft has been in a slump since it’s peak in 1999 and Steve Ballmer’s takeover from Bill Gates as CEO of the company in January 2000. The company needs to revolutionize it’s products much like the Windows revolution decades ago.

Or…as we all know, karma is a…

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