Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer need to send Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella a nice thank you gift. He’s keeping the co-founder and former CEO very, very rich.

The company is on the verge of becoming just the second U.S. company to have a $2 trillion market cap, as it hit a record high of $1.9 trillion. 

The only other American company in this rare air is Apple, currently all alone in the $2 trillion club, but if Microsoft shares rise 5%, they will be right there with them. 

It’s staggering to consider what Nadella has done since replacing Ballmer back in 2014.  Just in 2021 Microsoft is up 17%, and that’s after a 60% rise in 2020.  All told, Microsoft’s stock has risen more than five times what the shares were worth seven years ago. 

Not far behind Microsoft, and poised to also become $2 trillion companies sometime in the not so distant future are Amazon, with a current market cap of $1.7 trillion, and Alphabet, which is at $1.5 trillion now. 

So how is Microsoft doing it? Their Windows operating system continues to dominate, and Business Insider pointed out their success with Surface tables, Xbox gaming consoles, and they been strategic in acquiring other companies that have hit hit home runs for them, including Skype, Mojang, which is the maker of Minecraft, and LInkedIn. 

By the way, despite his success, Nadella was not on the Forbes Billionaire list released earlier this week. He’s just an employee, and not a founder, or he might be rivaling Bezos, Musk and Buffett in the net worth category. 

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