Move over, Microsoft. Your record as the most valuable public company ever has been topped.
Going up.
(Credit: CNET)
Apple set a new mark overnight as the most valuable publicly traded company of all time, reaching more than US$622 billion in market capitalisation, a measure of a company's stock price times the number of shares it has outstanding.
Microsoft had long held the record for the most valuable public company, having hit US$618.9 billion at the end of 1999. Since then, the software giant has watched its market cap fall to its current US$258.2 billion.
Apple reached the US$600 billion market cap mark in April before backsliding as its shares started to slip. Over the last three months, however, Apple has watched its shares rise by 25 per cent, helping it to nab its current market cap.
That jump helped propel Apple far above Exxon Mobil, which had previously battled the iPhone maker for most valuable brand. As of writing, Exxon Mobil's market cap stands at US$405.8 billion.
The big question now is: how high might Apple's market cap go? After hitting US$600 billion in April, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster made headlines by saying that Apple's shares could eventually hit US$1000. (Munster gave an estimate of 2014 for when that might happen.) And if they do so, its market cap could rise to US$1 trillion.
But that's still a long, long way off. Robust as they are, Apple's shares are trading at US$664.29.
CNET has contacted Apple for comment on its feat. We will update this story when we have more information.
Via CNET.com
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