Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaks at the Microsoft Build AI Day event in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 1, 2024.
Chalinee Thirasupa | Reuters
With about 10 minutes left until the market’s close, Microsoft’s stock was down for the week. It would’ve been the first eight-week losing streak since 2008.
But the shares popped just before the end of trading, pushing the stock up 0.7% for the week to close at $391.26. It is still down 7% for the year.
The last time Microsoft had a weekly slump like it has seen this year was between January and February 2008, when the country was in the middle of a financial crisis. Microsoft shares fell nine straight weeks.
Microsoft’s 2025 downdraft is notable as the company is viewed as central to the artificial intelligence boom. It has a hefty stake in OpenAI, is investing heavily in its Azure cloud infrastructure and has many products that are incorporating generative AI technologies.
Along with its megacap peers, Microsoft has seen a recent pullback on concerns that President Donald Trump’s tariffs and massive cost cuts will hurt the economy, possibly leading to a recession.
Since reaching a closing high of $467.56 in July 2024, Microsoft is down about 16%, pushing its market cap to $2.9 trillion. The company issued disappointing revenue guidance on Jan. 30.
Within cloud and AI, competition is heating up across the board from rivals such as Amazon and Google, as well as from emerging startups. Earlier this week, Google announced its intent to acquire cloud security startup Wiz for $32 billion.
