Given the great-white-shark reputation that Microsoft Corporation has earned for itself over the years, I was quite surprised when I stumbled upon the fact that the return on its stock over the last ten years hasn’t exactly been very stellar.

In May 2000, Microsoft’s stock closed at $62.56. Adjusted for a two-for-one stock split on February 18, 2003, that translates into $31.28 per current share.

Yesterday’s closing price for Microsoft was $25.01.

Of course, the company has been paying a dividend since the split (including a special dividend of $3.08 on November 15, 2004), so it’s not like the total return over the last ten years has been significantly negative. But the total dividend of $5.74 adds up to a little less than the price drop of $6.27. Even without factoring in the time value of money, Microsoft has a slightly negative return over the last ten years. Taking the time value of money into account only makes it more so.

Nor has the short term been kinder to Microsoft then the long-term. It’s return so far for May is a whopping -17.7%.

And that, boys and girls, is why Apple overtook Microsoft yesterday as the largest tech company by market capitalization.

As Shakespeare no doubt would have said if he were still around: “O, what a fall was there, my countrymen!” (Click on the link above to see a chart that dramatizes Apple’s come-from-way-behind victory. Quite a fall for Microsoft since 2000, and an exponential rise for Apple.)

*** Update, 7:50 a.m. ***

For reasons that are too complicated to get into, this morning I was locked into a Turkish version of Excel, and unable to compute Microsoft’s return. It turns out the return from May 31, 2000 through May 26, 2010 is -0.18% per year. In other words, practically zero.