Apple becomes first $3 trillion company

Apple Inc on Monday became the first company in the world to hit $3 trillion (€2.66 trillion) in market capitalization.

On the first day of trading for the year, the tech firm’s shares rose to $182.88 in mid-day trading, also a new record, though it did go on to drop slightly as the day wore on.

Apple hit $2 trillion in August 2020, amid a pandemic that has sparked demand for electronics.

The world’s most valuable business operation is the first to reach the $3 trillion milestone as investors continue to show faith that consumers remain enchanted with iPhones, MacBooks and services such as Apple TV and Apple Music.

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  Apple breaks through $2 trillion market capitalization threshold

  Trailblazer

  Just two years after becoming the first US company to breach the $1 trillion market capitalization, Apple has scaled yet another summit; the iPhone maker has become the first US public company with a market value of $2 trillion. Shares in Apple have soared this year as consumers, stuck at home due to the pandemic, buy its devices to stay connected.

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  Apple breaks through $2 trillion market capitalization threshold

  Beaten in the race

  However, Apple is not the world’s first $2 trillion-dollar company. That honor belongs to Saudi Aramco, which breached the mark in December last year on the second day of its public trading. The Saudi Arabian oil giant has slipped since then, hurt by a crash in oil prices, and has lost its crown of the world’s most valuable company.

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  Apple breaks through $2 trillion market capitalization threshold

  Waiting in the wings

  Apple may soon be joined by American tech peers Microsoft and Amazon, which too have seen their shares climbing during the pandemic. Their stocks have been driven by a huge demand for their products and services, which allow consumers to work from home, stay connected with their dear ones, and make purchases online. Both Microsoft and Amazon have a market value of more than $1.5 trillion.

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  Apple breaks through $2 trillion market capitalization threshold

  New billionaire on the block

  Apple’s recent surge has catapulted Tim Cook, the company’s CEO, into the billionaires’ club, Bloomberg reported. The $2 trillion valuation will be a moment of vindication for Cook, who took charge in 2011 when the company was valued around $350 billion amid doubts whether he could take forward his predecessor’s zeal for innovation. Cook has pledged to give most of his wealth away to charity.

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  Apple breaks through $2 trillion market capitalization threshold

  Birth of garage startup legend

  Apple was founded by Steve Jobs and his high school classmate Steve Wozniak in 1976 in Jobs’ family garage. It was the first successful personal computer firm. Apple went public four years later in the biggest public offering since Ford Motor’s debut in 1956. By the end of 1980, the computer maker was more valuable than the iconic carmaker at nearly $2 billion.

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  Apple breaks through $2 trillion market capitalization threshold

  Back from the brink

  Apple’s next breakthrough came in the form of Macintosh, a computer with a graphical user interface. But the initial tepid response to the Mac, panned for insufficient memory and for being toylike, led to the ouster of Jobs in 1985. Jobs returned in 1997 to rescue the company from the brink of bankruptcy. Apple never looked back thanks to a succession of hit products like the iPod and the iPhone.

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  Apple breaks through $2 trillion market capitalization threshold

  The iPhone moment

  Apple’s most groundbreaking product remains the iPhone, the first phone to pack a music player, a web browser, and email capabilities in a single device. The iPhone, which started a smartphone revolution in 2007 and pushed competitors like Motorola and Blackberry on the brink, still is Apple’s money-spinner and is at the core of the company’s plans to grow its services business.

  Author: Ashutosh Pandey

Soaring shares

Apple has been listed on the stock exchange since 1980.

With Steve Jobs at the helm from 1997 until he died in 2011, Apple went from strength to strength, and that upward trajectory has continued under the stewardship of Tim Cook.

Over the past five years, shareholders have seen their investment increase more than sixfold.

Meanwhile, the market as a whole was set to extend a recovery from the shock of the COVID pandemic, led by Tesla Inc, followed by Apple and graphics chipmaker Nvidia.

On Sunday, Electric carmaker Tesla said it sold 936,000 vehicles globally in the last year, up 87% from its 2020 figures.

jsi/rt (AFP, Reuters, dpa)

Apple becomes first $3 trillion company
Source: Pinoy Pop News