Market capitalization

Apple is now worth more than ... the Great Wall of China

With a market cap north of $340 billion, the company invites incongruous comparisons

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. In chronological order:

All 32 Eurozone banks
The Great MORE

How Apple overtook Google, Walmart, Microsoft and Exxon

The closing bell rang Wednesday with Apple's market cap, for the first time, at No. 1 

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 up to Exxon Mobile MORE

Apple re-overtakes Exxon Mobil

The computer maker is once again the world's most valuable company

As the Dow Jones industrial average plunged another 500-plus points Wednesday, Exxon Mobil (XOM) plunged more than Apple (AAPL) and once again gave up its long-held spot as the No. 1 public company in the world in terms of market capitalization.

When the closing bell rang, Apple closed on top for the first time. The tale of the tape looked like MORE

Apple is (briefly) the world's most valuable public company

The company's market cap vied with Exxon Mobil's in see-saw trading Tuesday

The lead changed hands several times Tuesday as Exxon Mobil (XOM) recovered from early losses and Apple's (AAPL) gains leveled off. By 3:00 p.m, Apple's market capitalization (share price times number of shares outstanding) was more than $5 billion larger than Exxon's, according to Google Finance. As the closing bell approached, however, Exxon surged faster than Apple and retook the MORE

Why isn't Apple AAAA?

Bank of America's market cap hit $70 billion Monday. Apple could buy it with cash.

In the wake of Standard & Poor's downgrade of U.S. government securities -- from AAA to AA+ -- Apple's (AAPL) shares are getting pummeled along with the rest of the market.

But after the subprime mortgage debacle and the debt ceiling circus, it's worth remembering that this is a company whose profits last quarter grew 125% year MORE

Whose ox Apple has gored

When you look at the market caps of its competitors, the picture is pretty clear

UBS's Maynard Um posted two interesting charts in a note to clients Monday.

The first compares the growth in Apple's value since 2007 with its chief competitors in the PC and handset businesses.

Apple's (AAPL) market capitalization (calculated by multiplying its share price by the number of shares outstanding) now stands at $327 billion, making it the world's MORE

Apple's market cap is not gaining on Exxon Mobil's

But then, neither is Microsoft gaining on Apple

As measured by market capitalization (i.e., stock price times number of shares) Apple (AAPL) overtook Microsoft (MSFT) in May 2010 to become the world's most valuable tech company.

Apple still trails Exxon Mobil (XOM), the No. 1 publicly traded company, by more than $90 billion.

An orgy of last-minute AAPL trades

Someone sold 6 million shares at $348.24 as Apple put the NASDAQ-100 rebalance behind it

Apple investors had been dreading Friday's close since early April, when NASDAQ announced that starting May 2, Apple's share of the NASDAQ-100, one of the world's most heavily traded stock indexes, would be reduced from 20.5% to 12.3%.

All 100 stocks in the index were to be affected by the so-called Special Rebalance, but none as much MORE

Jobs' net is bigger than Ballmer's

For the first time in decades, Apple's net income has overtaken Microsoft's

One by one, the bragging rights are going Steve Jobs' way.

In May 2010, Apple's (AAPL) market cap passed Microsoft's (MSFT).
In October, Apple overtook Microsoft in total revenue.
On Thursday, when Microsoft reported its earnings for the March quarter, Steve Ballmer lost what edge he still had. Microsoft's net income for calendar Q1 2011 was $5.23 billion. Apple's was $5.99 billion.

Also MORE

Apple: Barron's most-respected, again

For the second year in a row, Steve Jobs' company tops the money manager's list

This is not a huge surprise.

After all, Barron's annual list of the world's most respected companies is drawn from a survey of professional money managers. And money managers control 70% of Apple's (AAPL) shares, and thus were largely responsible for the long 2010 rally that made Apple the world's most valuable tech company.

Still, as Vito Racanelli MORE