2026-07-31
Same Day: Microsoft Added $450 Billion in Market Cap, Meta's Free Cash Flow Fell to $784 Million
On July 30, Microsoft rose 15.63% and added roughly $450 billion in market value in a single day, the largest one-day gain in US market history, past Nvidia's $441 billion on April 9, 2025. Meta fell 9% the same day. Both had reported the night before, both grew revenue, and Meta grew faster. The difference was somewhere else: Microsoft cut its calendar 2026 capex guidance from the roughly $190 billion it gave in April to about $175 billion, while Azure growth accelerated from 40% to 43%. Meta raised its full-year capex guidance to $130–145 billion and reported $784 million in free cash flow. This piece breaks down where that $15 billion came from, which part is efficiency and which part is accounting treatment, and what it means for product managers that Microsoft holds 27% of OpenAI and also put $5 billion into Anthropic.
