A global outage of Microsoft’s Azure cloud service is impacting operations of Alaska Air Group, less than a week after the carrier canceled flights due to a data system failure https://t.co/JZTrLlM98y ...

Core Insights - Apple and Microsoft have both surpassed a market capitalization of $4 trillion, marking a significant milestone in the tech industry [1][3] - Apple is the third company to reach this milestone, following Nvidia and Microsoft, with its valuation driven by strong sales of the iPhone 17 [2] - Microsoft regained its $4 trillion valuation after a slight drop, attributed to a new agreement with OpenAI, highlighting the importance of AI partnerships in driving growth [1][3] Company Performance - Apple's growth trajectory has been remarkable, achieving $1 trillion in 2018, $2 trillion in 2020, and $3 trillion in 2022, with the latest surge linked to the iPhone 17 launch [2] - Microsoft benefits from the increasing demand for its Azure cloud services, which integrate OpenAI's language models, contributing to its valuation [3] - Alphabet, Google's parent company, is approaching the $4 trillion mark, currently valued at $3.25 trillion, indicating a competitive landscape among tech giants [3]

The second catalyst was a broader economic recession that began in Japan in March 2000 , triggering global market fears and accelerating the flight from risky assets. This one-two punch of higher rates and global uncertainty caused investors to reassess the astronomical valuations of internet companies.The dot-com crash wasn’t triggered by a single event, but rather a convergence of factors that exposed fundamental weaknesses in the late 1990s tech economy. The first critical blow came from the Federal Rese ...

When Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019, it was weird. Now, the bet looks like one of the smartest investments in technology history. OpenAI announced last week that it's restructuring itself into a for-profit public benefit corporation. The move will create traditional stock that enables investors to get equity stakes in the business.As part of this, Microsoft will likely get a new equity stake in OpenAI that could be worth at least $150 billion, according to analysts at BNP Paribas and other ...