Amazon becomes most valuable company after overtaking Microsoft

Amazon reclaimed its crown as Wall Street’s stock market darling this evening, passing Microsoft to take the lead in a three-horse race which has seen fellow tech giant Apple fall behind in recent weeks.

Microsoft’s six-week run as the largest global company by market value was ended when the bell closed on Wall Street today after Amazon’s share price surged 3.5 per cent.

The retail giant owned by Jeff Bezos is now worth roughly $793bn, as investors swooped up shares following robust sales during the crucial Christmas trading period.

Such an improvement in the company’s stock performance comes after Amazon suffered one of its steepest quarterly drops in share value since 2008 at the end of last year in the wake of disappointing results.

Last week Apple also sparked panic on markets after warning that it would miss its quarterly sales forecast.