Microsoft pips Exxon to become world's second-most valuable company

Helped by a bull run in Microsoft's stock in the past year, Microsoft Corp has emerged the second-most valuable company in the world after Apple, pushing the energy giant Exxon Mobil to the third spot.

Apple Inc remains the world's most valuable company with a market capitalisation of more than $668 billion - a figure Microsoft has not seen even when it was No 1 with a $616 billion market cap in December 1999.

Under the new CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft saw its stock continue to surge driving the company's market capitalisation to over $410 billion on Friday. Exxon, on the other hand, saw its value fall to $404 billion amidst a drop in oil prices.

Microsoft shares climbed 1.7 per cent on Friday, pushing its capitalisation to $408.9 billion while Exxon shares slipped 0.8 per cent to $94.66 at 4 pm in New York on Friday, dropping for the third time in four days and reducing the overall value to $400.8 billion.

Shares of Exxon have fallen along with most oil companies in recent weeks, as oil prices continued to plummet.

Under new CEO Satya Nadella, Microsoft also cut expenses - and jobs - while pledging to refocus the company on mobile technology and cloud computing.

Microsoft also promised a redesign its flagship Windows operating system and released versions of other popular software for smart phones and tablets, including devices made by competitor Apple.

The new measures pleased investors and Microsoft shares have since outperformed the tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite Index, gaining about 45 per cent in an 18-month period.

MobilThe stock hit $50.04 on Friday, its highest point since early 2000, before slipping to the $49.50 range in afternoon trading.