Red Hat stock shoots past Microsoft's

Linux distributor Red Hat yesterday saw its stock price end the day's trading higher than that of the open source community's arch-enemy, Microsoft. Red Hat's shares ended the day at $85.25 each (up from $75.63, the previous day's closing price) -- Microsoft's last traded price was $84.69. Red Hat shares hit a peak of $90.69 during the third day of trading in the newly IPO'd company's stock. Of course, while the day's trading pushed Red Hat's market capitalisation up to $5.69 billion, the company still has some way to go to match Microsoft's $432.23 billion. Bill Gates doesn't have to worry about his wealth just yet. Microsoft's 52-week high is $100.75, but that seems a target Red Hat is more likely to reach. ® See also Red Hat stock heads skyward on second day's trading Wall Street votes for Linux in Red Hat IPO