Microsoft surpasses Alphabet to become 3rd most valuable firm
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San Francisco, May 30: Microsoft has surpassed Alphabet, the parent company of Google, in the market capitalisation for the first time in three years, becoming the third most valuable firm after Apple and Amazon globally.
According to a report in Investor's Business Daily late Tuesday, Microsoft had a market cap of $753 billion at the close of trading, almost $14 billion ahead of Alphabet.
Apple leads with a market cap of nearly $924 billion and Amazon is at distant second, with nearly $783 billion.
The credit for Microsoft's rise goes to its CEO Satya Nadella who has been strategically restructuring the company towards Cloud and Office offerings.
Driven by consistent growth in its Office and Cloud solutions, Microsoft posted a revenue of $26.8 billion and net income of $7.4 billion in its third quarter that ended on March 31.
"We are innovating across key growth categories of infrastructure, AI, productivity and business applications to deliver differentiated value to customers," Nadella said.
Office commercial products and Cloud services revenue increased 14 per cent -- driven by Office 365 commercial revenue growth of 42 per cent.
The Azure cloud offering had 93 per cent revenue growth. Revenue in Productivity and Business Processes was $9 billion and increased 17 per cent in the quarter.
Microsoft now has over 135 million active Office 365 business users, with 30.6 million Office 365 consumer users.
Revenue in Intelligent Cloud was $7.9 billion and increased 17 per cent.
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Cybercriminals used over 65,000 mule accounts in Karnataka in 2024: Report
Bengaluru: Cybercriminals used more than 65,000 mule bank accounts from Karnataka in 2024 to funnel illicit funds, according to data from the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), an agency under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The data, which was cited by Deccan Herald on Monday, indicates that these accounts form only the first layer of fraudster accounts, and the actual numbers may be far higher. The first layer refers to the initial accounts that victims are tricked into transferring their money to, at the behest of cyber fraudsters.
Mule accounts play a crucial role in the operation of cybercrimes by acting as intermediaries between the victim’s bank account and the scammer’s account. These accounts are often created, rented, or purchased by cybercrooks.
Karnataka ranked fifth among Indian states for the number of first-layer mule accounts. It trailed behind Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, the report added.
Investigators have pointed to negligence by banks as one of the primary reasons behind the proliferation of mule accounts. Despite technological advancements, many banks lack robust monitoring systems to track suspicious accounts and transactions effectively.
"Banks have the responsibility of monitoring suspicious accounts and transactions, but they are often compromised. There is no proper existing system for monitoring such things in many banks, despite technological advancements," DH quoted an Assistant Commissioner of Police-rank investigator as saying.
Furthermore, there are growing concerns about the potential leakage of customer data by bank employees. The officer added the bank representatives not only give out contact information of people but also give details of gullible individuals holding bank accounts with no activity.
These accounts become prime targets for fraudsters, who approach the account holders to buy or rent them for use in scams.
