Microsoft now trails only Apple Inc. on the list of the world’s most valuable companies, having leaped-frogged Exxon Mobil Corp. The Redmond tech-giant, led by CEO Satya Nadella and his cloud first, mobile first vision, has seen its total market value rise to $410 billion, compared to Exxon’s $404 billion. Apple is still way out in front with a total value reported as $668 billion.

Although costly lay-offs in summer and the integration of Nokia’s handset division cost the company a reported $1.14 billion, Nadella’s visionary strategic changes have started paying off. Microsoft stock has been in the ascent for some time, have risen almost 70 percent since April 2013, following San Francisco-based investment firm ValueAct Capital’s disclosure that it owns $2 billion worth of shares in the company. The announcement, which included a confident appraisal of Microsoft’s potential byValueAct Capital founder Jeffrey W. Ubben, had an immediate impact on Microsoft’s stock price. Ubben was reported as saying that in three to five years, “Microsoft could be the largest cloud company in the world.” Microsoft stock reached $50.04 on Friday, which was higher than it’s been since 2000. It’s currently at $49.58.

Nadella’s cloud and mobile strategy; the promise of great changes to its Windows operating system, as well as some effective strategies  in the ‘console wars’, may just be the catalyst to somewhat of a renaissance for Microsoft, whose value in 1999 was $616 billion, then the highest company value in the world.

In an interview with Bloomberg, investment analyst Drew Wilson, said of the recent change at the top of the table and Microsoft’s success, “Microsoft is gaining more credibility than it’s had in the past with a change at the top and some relative successes. The confluence of those things is what’s causing the shake-up.”

Photo credit:  401(K) 2012 via photo pin cc