Microsoft completes its best year in a decade
January 1, 2020 | Investopaper
Microsoft has ended its best year in a decade as the stock price gained 55.3 percent this year after shares trading closed on $157.70 this Tuesday. The stock price surge is only second to the growth of 56.8 percent in 2009. The company has a market capitalization of $1.2 trillion. It only trails to Apple and Saudi Aramco. Microsoft contributed to the 7 percent S&P 500 index gain in 2019. The company went through various changes during the decade with major changes seen on the leadership and shift in strategy.
The major highlights of 2019 can be summarised by Windows 7 end of support i.e. the company will stop releasing security patches for Windows 7 on January 14, 2020. This has led the companies to pay out money to put their employees on the latest platform i..e Windows 10. Windows OEM Pro, which shows sales of Windows license for commercial PCs, revenue has grown by 19 percent. Likewise, the server product updates have led the organization to move towards new products. This has bolstered the revenue generated from Microsoft Server products and cloud services.
Besides, the company also made a Joint Enterprise Defense Infrasture(JEDI), contract to supply Azure cloud services to the defense department which can generate a revenue of $10 billion. Gaming generates 9 percent revenue to the Microsoft company and the company is planning the launch of its fourth-generation console.
