It doesn’t really mean very much and it’s probably transient, but in terms of the embarrassment and shame it engenders, particularly given the history of the two companies, it couldn’t be more momentous: on Thursday, Microsoft Corp shares rose $1.125 to $89.50 and IBM Corp shares fell 50 cents to $46.375, which meant that for the first time, Microsoft’s market capitalisation (share price times the number of shares outstanding), at $26,800m surpassed that of IBM at $26,500m and you’d have to be a pretty incompetent asset stripper not to get more than $26,500m back if you were to take over IBM, break it up and sell all the bits off.
