Google on Monday surpassed the market
capitalization of Microsoft for the first time, underlining the
transition to a web-centric technology world from one dominated by
personal computers.
A slight bump in Google shares midday Monday meant the company was
valued at 249.5 billion dollars, while a dip in Microsoft stock gave
the PC software maker a market capitalization of 247.8 billion
dollars.
Both companies still trail behind Apple, which has built a value
of over 630 billion dollars, largely based on the amazing success of
its iPhone and iPad mobile devices.
Google was founded in 1998 after graduate computer science
students Larry Page and Sergey Brin developed a new way of searching
the internet.
Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975 just as
personal computers were starting to become widespread and became the
world's largest software maker after developing the dominant
operating system for PCs.
