Microsoft heads for biggest single day market value gain in history

Microsoft is on track to post the largest single day increase in market value ever recorded after its shares surged as much as 17% on Thursday. The rally added about $490 billion to the company’s market capitalization following stronger than expected quarterly earnings driven by rapid growth in its cloud business.

The Microsoft market value rally followed the company’s fiscal fourth quarter results, which showed Azure revenue climbed 43% from a year earlier. It marked the cloud platform’s fastest growth since early 2022. Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella said Azure generated more than $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time. Microsoft reported total quarterly revenue of $90 billion, up 18% year over year, while Microsoft Cloud revenue reached $59.3 billion, an increase of 27%.

The intraday surge surpassed the previous record set by Nvidia, which added roughly $440 billion in market value during a single trading session after a temporary pause in US tariffs announced by President Donald Trump the previous year. Microsoft also recorded its strongest intraday share price gain since October 2008.

The earnings report highlighted continued demand for the company’s artificial intelligence products. Microsoft said paid licenses for Microsoft 365 Copilot exceeded 30 million. The company also confirmed that its capital expenditure plans for fiscal 2026 remain unchanged despite continued investment in AI infrastructure.

The sharp advance marked a significant turnaround for Microsoft shares after a difficult start to 2026. Before Thursday’s rally, the stock had fallen about 19% during the year, making it one of the weakest performers among the so called Magnificent Seven technology companies. Investors had expressed concerns over heavy AI spending and slower growth earlier in the year.

Microsoft’s gain of nearly $500 billion exceeded the total market value of about 96% of companies listed in the S&P 500, according to Bloomberg data. The increase also surpassed the combined stock market capitalization of several countries, including South Africa, Turkey, Finland and Vietnam.

The quarterly results also benefited from one time gains linked to Microsoft’s investments. The company recorded a $3.2 billion gain from its investment in Anthropic and an additional net gain related to its stake in OpenAI. Together, those items contributed about $0.27 per share above analysts’ initial earnings expectations. Microsoft reported revenue of $39.3 billion for its Intelligent Cloud division, which includes Azure, representing annual growth of 32%.

Before the earnings announcement, options markets had implied a potential change in Microsoft’s market value of around $190 billion, according to Reuters. The actual increase was more than double that expectation, underscoring the strength of investor confidence after the earnings release.