General Motors Corp. shares fired into record territory on Tuesday after the automaker said it was partnering with Microsoft Corp. to speed up the marketing of driverless cars.
As part of the “long-term strategic relationship”, Microsoft will join General Motors GM,
as well as Honda Motor Co. Ltd. HMC,
7267,
and institutional investors in a new $ 2 billion combined capital investment in GM’s autonomous vehicle startup Cruise. GM said the investment brings Cruise’s “post-money valuation” to $ 30 billion.
GM shares were up 9.4% in the morning trading session, trading well above its $ 14.53 record close of January 14. Microsoft shares MSFT,
rose 0.5%.
GM’s shares have already risen 31.3% this year, while investors are reaping the benefits of GM’s total move to the electric vehicle market. GM outperformed other electric vehicle manufacturers in the year to date, such as Tesla Inc. TSLA stock,
rose 18.6% and China Nio Inc. NIO,
rose 17.4%.
Don’t miss: GM speeds up electric vehicle plans while racing to catch up with Tesla.
Cruise will use Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform to market its autonomous vehicles at scale, while Azure will use the experience of the Cruise industry to enhance product innovation and serve its transportation customers.
“Microsoft is a great addition to the team as we move towards a future world of zero accidents, zero emissions and zero congestion,” said GM Chief Executive Mary Barra. “Microsoft will help us accelerate the commercialization of Cruise’s all-electric and autonomous vehicles and help GM gain even more benefits from cloud computing by launching 30 new electric vehicles globally by 2025 and creating new businesses and services to drive growth. “
GM’s Cruise rating is now approaching Ford Motor Co. F,
which has a market capitalization of $ 40.3 billion. Also in the EV space, Nikola Corp.’s NKLA,
the market capitalization is US $ 7.7 billion.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said: “Advances in digital technology are redefining all aspects of our work and life, including the way we move people and goods. Like Cruise and GM’s favorite cloud, we’ll apply the power of Azure to help them scale and make autonomous transportation popular. “
GM’s tock has shot up 64.0% in the last three months, while the S&P 500 SPX index,
gained 10.5%.