Apple is now officially the world's largest public company
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It's now official – Apple has become the largest public company in the world based on its stock value. Cupertino topped Standard&Poor's 500 index, eclipsing Exxon-Mobil, the oil company which has occupied it in the last five years.
Despite it being a down day for the market, Apple closed with a market value of $336.3 billion on Tuesday, nearly $1.2 billion over Exxon-Mobil's $335.1 billion. Shares of both companies slipped in value, but Apple only suffered a 2.76% decrease, while stock of the oil giant dropped 4.41%.
And that seems to illustrate well a growing trend in the past four years as tech companies gain in value, while more traditional businesses like the oil industry, energy and banking are slowly losing investor's interest. But the tech industry changes quickly and Apple will be the first to confirm that. The California-based company went public in 1980, entering the S&P rating two years later. After ranking well in the late 80s, the company fell back to 456th in 1997. That's when Steve Jobs returned to the bitten Apple to reverse that trend. The impressive climb from rugs to riches happened largely thanks to the iPod revolution followed by the iPhone and subsequent overall improvement in brand recognition. In April 2010, Cupertino became the second largest public US company, surpassing its biggest rival Microsoft.
But while Apple has been growing quite fast, Exxon went through a much more dramatic downfall. The company's market cap fell from $410 billion three weeks ago to $335 now, a nearly $75 billion decline. Share prices have also accordingly reflected that by slipping to $70 from $85.
In the last couple of days, Apple and Exxon have been switching places all the time and the two will probably continue trading places for a while, but what does Apple's current #1 spot mean in the long term? Most importantly, it reflect momentum as most analysts currently rate Apple stock as a “strong buy.” And even though the health of Steve Jobs seems to remain Apple's biggest swing factor, the company seems to have both the growth and cash to win over the oil giant in the long term.
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75 Comments
1. Giorgio77 (unregistered) posted on 11 Aug 2011, 03:41 3 3
Good job Apple like my sister said in many countries were people don't have job one thing they do have smartphone and a meal it seams everywere I go in the united states I see kids with iPhone or android and a burger just like my freind he don't have a job but he do have a iPhone
2. CH (unregistered) posted on 11 Aug 2011, 03:43 9 1
Umm isn't Microsoft still the biggest company and most succesful etc. Would bet my money on that instead.
15. lolz (unregistered) posted on 11 Aug 2011, 08:58 4 0
MS owns a good chunk of Apple stock as well.
70. downphoenix posted on 11 Aug 2011, 21:04 2 0
MS used to have a stack back in 1997 but they sold it back in 2000. If they would have held onto their shares, which was a pretty significant chunk, they would be bigger than Apple.
3. PeterIfromsweden posted on 11 Aug 2011, 04:10 10 5
Apple is only big because of all the iSheep.
16. taco50 posted on 11 Aug 2011, 09:41 6 7
Yes you're right. They have made no contributions to the cell industry. They haven't come up with anything innovative. Heck their phones don't even work. You can't surf the web, can't make calls, can't send texts. And yet these damn sheep keep buying them by the millions. I don't get it.
25. GALAXY-S posted on 11 Aug 2011, 12:05 3 4
definitly agree with you ?? i dont gett it???? lmao!!
29. taz89 posted on 11 Aug 2011, 12:55 5 3
you could do all that before the iphone ever existed
71. kadar (unregistered) posted on 11 Aug 2011, 22:49 2 0
iGuess its the iCandy, iDont get it iTher
I'm guessing this has a lot to do with brand loyalty and exclusivity and all that iCrap. Apple users tend to worship their iDevices despite of its lack of functionality.
73. ahmedra2ol posted on 12 Aug 2011, 00:43 1 0
you are soo true agree 1000%
26. 530gemini posted on 11 Aug 2011, 12:51 2 1
Of course. Without us customers, not iSheeps, Apple wouldn't make so much profit.
You sound awefully bitter. Why is that? Is it because the company you support isn't doing as well as Apple? :)
39. PeterIfromsweden posted on 11 Aug 2011, 13:34 3 2
Nope, the truth is though that apple is doing well coz of iSheeps.
For example i know of a guy here in Sweden. He bought the Ipod touch. Then he got the Iphone 4. Then after that he got a Mac, and a few month after that he just bought the new macbook air (or whatever it is called).
He is what i call a iSheep, just like Taco, There is one difference though, this guy is lots more civilized than taco.
The companies i like is Nokia and Samsung. Yes Nokia is doing bad at the moment and i want themt to, so that hopefully they will change back from WP7 to MeeGo and Symbian.
And the other company i like i Samsung. They are doing really well, not as good as Apple at the moment, but they are number 2 and are having record profits and sales.
And i'm really happy that bada is doing so well at the moment, outselling both WP7 and Winmo together : D
Just check one of the latest PA articles.
44. 530gemini posted on 11 Aug 2011, 14:19 2 1
"iSheep" would be a term used by an Apple hater like you. Consumers' choices is theirs. It's their money, not yours. Why would their expenditures affect you? You cannot generalize the whole Apple community just because you know someone personally who collects Apple devices. Some people even have more expensive collections. Jay Leno collects expensive cars. What does that make him? A carsheep?
Good for Samsung if they are doing well. But don't get upset if Apple is doing better.
60. taco50 posted on 11 Aug 2011, 16:04 2 2
Peter gets shut down by logic
49. Pirate Ninja (unregistered) posted on 11 Aug 2011, 14:37 0 0
It's all a bubble... and when the bubble bursts, the iSheep will be put out to pasture.
5. dionddc posted on 11 Aug 2011, 04:24 4 1
Whilst this is definitely impressive, the size of a company's market cap does not reflect their power in an industry.
