Apple’s stock-market value briefly topped $400 billion on Thursday, reaching an unprecedented high of $431.37 billion. It’s value then fell below the 400 mark by midday and ultimately settled around $398 billion.
Although it’s value fell later in the day, this is still a pretty shocking milestone for a company only 35 years old and puts Apple in some pretty limited territory. To better understand just how big a company Apple has become here are a few interesting stats: Apple’s market cap is higher than the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of Greece, Austria, Argentina, or South Africa. Yes, you read that correctly. It’s higher than the GDP of entire countries. It is worth more than ten times the entire National Football League, and double the worth of the entire US clothing store business. It is also worth more than the economy of Singapore,- one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Mind-numbing.
Apple is one of the fastest growing technology companies of the world. Presently, only Exxon Mobil is valued higher than Apple, at roughly $420 billion and Apple has some catching up to do with the Oil company if it wants to lead. Close competition to Apple includes PetroChina at $270 billion. This is followed closely by Microsoft which stands at $235 billion.
Next week, Apple is going to report its finances for the December quarter. According to a survey conducted by Thomson Reuters, it is expected by financial analysts that Apple will report an increase of 45% in sales. After the launch of the iPhone 4S in October, Apple is predicted to have sold an astonishing 30 million iPhones. This follows Apple’s similar success with its line of iPods and earlier iPhones.
A revolutionary company, Apple not only leads the smartphone industry, it has also created a whole new category in mobile computing with its highly successful tablet, iPad. With the launch of iCloud last year, Apple also adopted cloud computing. Also on Thursday Apple announced it’s initiative to reinvent textbooks. Releasing a publishing tool for secondary school curriculum, Apple announced that it intended to include the ability to not only create but publish interactive e-textbooks for the iPad. These textbooks will also be update-able.
Many say that Apple is the best tech company for future investment. It is certainly the most valuable company on the stock market right now, yet it’s growth is also the fastest. With it’s continuing range of innovative gadgets, and another tablet and iPhone expected this year, it sure seems to be true that Apple’s stock market value will continue to rise. You can never be certain though. As of now, Tim Cook is heading Apple in the best financial shape it has ever been in.
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