Microsoft's AI quarter adds ~$450 billion in a day — the biggest gain in market history
Microsoft shares jumped more than 15% on July 30 after Azure grew 43% — its fastest pace since 2022 — and topped $100 billion in annual revenue for the first time, while Microsoft 365 Copilot passed 30 million paid seats. The single-day rise added roughly $450 billion in market value, the largest one-session gain by any company in stock market history, ahead of Nvidia's $440 billion record. Microsoft told investors to expect Azure to grow 45% next quarter.
Why it mattersA week that began with alarm over ballooning AI bills at Meta and Microsoft ends with the market's verdict: investors will forgive any level of spending as long as cloud AI revenue keeps accelerating. The AI trade is splitting into winners with half-trillion-dollar days and laggards being punished — the pressure to spend even more just went up.
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