Also, the combined market caps of Google and Microsoft. Steve Jobs would be pleased.
GDP: $458 billion. Map: Tourist Destinations
Apple (AAPL) closed Thursday at a record high $493.17, up a whopping $16.49 (3.46%) for the day. That pushed its market capitalization (share price times shares outstanding) to nearly $460 billion -- more than any other company in the world and, as Apple Insider's Neil Hughes noted, greater than the value of Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG) combined.
What else is Apple worth more than? Let's see ...
Updating some of the links in the Things Apple Is Worth More Than tumbler, and adding a few of our own, we find:
The company has gained nearly one Facebook in value since Steve Jobs died
On Oct. 4, the day before Steve Jobs passed away, Apple (AAPL) shares closed at $372.50 and its market cap stood at $347 billion.
Four months later, the stock is up nearly $100 and its market cap is $437 billion. To put that $90 billion gain in perspective, it's nine tenths the value analysts have placed on Facebook in MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Feb 8, 2012 7:09 AM ET
The world's most valuable company is now worth $425 billion, $24 billion ahead of Exxon
Apple (AAPL) capped a post-earnings surge by closing Tuesday at $456.48, a new all-time record high.
In intraday trading it reached as high as $458.24, also a record.
Measured by market capitalization (price per share times number of shares outstanding), Apple is now worth more than $425 billion, making it the world's most valuable company by far.
No. 2 MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jan 31, 2012 4:19 PM ET
Exxon Mobil finished 2011 where it started: As the world's most valuable company
Source: Wolfram Alpha
It was nip and tuck for more than three months, from that day in early August, when Apple (AAPL) first overtook Exxon Mobil (XOM), to mid November, when Exxon finally pulled away.
At one point in late September, Apple's market cap (share price times number of outstanding shares) was nearly $36 billion more than Exxon's.
But though Apple's MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Jan 2, 2012 11:58 AM ET
Another striking visualization from Asymco
Market capitalizations from 1997-2011. Click to enlarge. Source: Asymco.com
Nobody covering high tech today is better at turning raw data into colorful, expressive visuals than the Asymco team of Horace Dediu and Dirk Schmidt. On Tuesday Schmidt marked the end of the second Steve Jobs era by graphing the market capitalizations of Apple (AAPL) and 16 of its peers from 1997 (when Jobs returned to Apple) to 2011 MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Sep 29, 2011 8:03 AM ET
Apple (AAPL) got clobbered Thursday, losing $10.32 (2.5%) to close at $401.82. But it got clobbered less than the rest of the market. Exxon Mobil (XOM), in particular, fell 3.79%.
Bottom line: Apple, whose market capitalization trailed Exxon's by $50 billion three months ago, and which first overtook Exxon six weeks later, is now the world's most valuable public company by $35.87 billion.
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Sep 22, 2011 5:37 PM ET
When the rest of the market is tanking, the company's shares offer a relatively safe haven
On Monday, when the Dow opened down $250, Apple (AAPL) rose $11.13 (2.78%) to close at a new record $411.63. On Tuesday, Apple opened at $415.35 and hit $422.86 shortly after noon.
UPDATE: Apple closed Tuesday nearly where it started, at $413.45, up $1.82 (.44%) for the day.
To put Monday's close in perspective:
Apple shares were up MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Sep 20, 2011 7:33 AM ET
When the market closed, it was once more the world's most valuable public company
When analysts warned that the greatest risk to Apple's (AAPL) share price was Steve Jobs, they assumed that when he stepped down the stock would fall.
So much for that theory.
If the market action Thursday was ambiguous (the stock fell a bit, but less than the major indices), the message Friday was not. Apple rose $9.86 (2.64%) to close MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Aug 26, 2011 7:22 PM ET
With a market cap north of $340 billion, the company invites incongruous comparisons
The Great Wall. Photo: Nicolas M. Perrault
There's a new parlor game being played on Tumbler called Things Apple Is Worth More Than.
The rules are simple: Take Apple's (AAPL) market cap -- $346.36 billion as of Tuesday's market close -- and find something huge that has a lower value. There are a dozen entries so far on Tumbler. MORE
Philip Elmer-DeWitt - Aug 24, 2011 7:04 AM ET
The closing bell rang Wednesday with Apple's market cap, for the first time, at No. 1
Chart courtesy of ycharts.com
Apple (AAPL), for now at least, is the world's most valued company by market capitalization (determined by multiplying a company's stock price times number of shares outstanding). Here's how it happened:
It caught up to Google (GOOG) in mid-2009
It overtook Walmart (WMT) in March 2010
It passed Microsoft (MSFT) in May 2010
It caught MORE
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| Company | Price | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank of America Corp... | 7.95 | -0.16 | -1.97% |
| Microsoft Corp | 31.27 | -0.17 | -0.54% |
| Ford Motor Co | 12.28 | -0.25 | -2.00% |
| General Electric Co | 19.39 | 0.17 | 0.88% |
| Citigroup Inc | 32.36 | -1.00 | -3.00% |
| Index | Last | Change | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dow | 12,938.67 | -27.02 | -0.21% |
| Nasdaq | 2,933.17 | -15.40 | -0.52% |
| S&P 500 | 1,357.66 | -4.55 | -0.33% |
| Treasuries | 2.00 | -0.04 | -1.96% |
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