Amazon just became the most valuable public company in the US

Amazon has surpassed Microsoft to become the world’s most valuable public company in the US, ending the trading day on Monday with a market capitalisation of $796.8bn.

Meanwhile, rival Microsoft -- who held the top spot since 28 November -- had a market valuation of $785bn.

In recent months, tech giants Microsoft, Apple and Amazon have battled it out for the top spot after years of dominance by Apple.

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In November, Microsoft beat Apple’s market valuation for the first time in eight years.

The iPhone maker’s chief executive officer, Tim Cook, issued a letter last week which revised guidance on the company’s first quarter fiscal results, citing challenges in emerging markets.

“While we anticipated some challenges in key emerging markets, we did not foresee the magnitude of the economic deceleration, particularly in Greater China,” Cook wrote in the letter.

“In fact, most of our revenue shortfall to our guidance, and over 100 percent of our year-over-year worldwide revenue decline, occurred in Greater China across iPhone, Mac and iPad.”

Amazon's market capitalisation topped $1trn in September.