Race to $1 Trillion Market Cap Heats Up

The race between Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet to reach a $1 trillion valuation is close to concluding, though it is still difficult to predict a winner.

Apple was valued at $941 billion on Friday, needing just a 6% increase to reach the milestone.

Amazon came in at $880 billion on Thursday, slightly behind, needing a 13% increase in valuation.

Bloomberg predicts Apple will put out a weaker earnings call than Amazon, however, as Q3 is typically the worst for iPhone sales.

Consumers reportedly prefer to wait for a newer model, or for discounts on older models, at a later date.

Apple services may pick up the slack, however, with Apple Music seeing good growth in 2017-18. A lower priced, entry-level iPhone may also boost Apple’s chances of winning the race.

Amazon may release higher-than-expected growth figures after a successful Prime Day, however. The day saw $4 billion in sales.

Growth in advertising revenue is another significant factor potentially playing to Amazon’s advantage.

Google (via Alphabet) and Microsoft may be competing for third place, given their lower valuations, but both are on track to hit the $1 trillion mark soon.

Alphabet is valued at over $830 billion, while Microsoft sits at around $815 billion. Both are making rapid gains in the cloud computing space.

While Alphabet is still favourite of the two, hefty European Commission fines have set back its valuation slightly.

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