Add Category
Apple has become the first publicly traded company to close a trading day with a $US3 trillion ($4.5 trillion) market value.
Key points:
- It comes less than two years after the tech giant topped $US2 trillion for the first time
- The growth is driven by Apple's tech empire, with iPhones accounting for more than half of sales
- Microsoft is the second-most valuable at $US2.5 trillion, followed by Saudi Aramco at $US2.08 trillion
It marked another milestone for the technology juggernaut that has reshaped society with a line-up of products churning out eye-popping profits.
Apple shares closed up 2.3 per cent at $US193.97 on Friday, bringing its market value to $US3.04 trillion.
It is one of a handful of technology companies, including Microsoft and chipmaker Nvidia, that helped drive the S&P 500 to a gain of nearly 16 per cent in the first half of the year.
The 47-year-old company, co-founded by Silicon Valley legend Steve Jobs, had briefly eclipsed a $US3 trillion market value on back-to-back days in January 2022, but couldn't hold on by the time the market closed.
Instead, Apple's stock sank into a prolonged descent that pushed its market value briefly below $US2 trillion this year amid a slowdown in growth and investor jitters about rising interest rates that affected the entire tech sector.
VR headsets the latest in Apple's array of products
Apple didn't come close to the $US3 trillion threshold again until June when the company unveiled what could be its next big product — a high-priced headset called Vision Pro that thrusts users into artificial settings known as virtual reality.
Although the significance of reaching a $US3 trillion market value is largely symbolic, its magnitude is still breathtaking.
For instance, that $US3 trillion could buy the 50 most valuable sports teams in the world with plenty of change to spare.
If it was distributed equally to every person in the United States, each person would receive about $US9,000.
Microsoft is the second-most valuable public company at $US2.5 trillion.
Oil giant Saudi Aramco has a market value of $US2.08 trillion.
Alphabet, the parent of Google, Amazon and Nvidia have market values above $US1 trillion.
It took Apple less than two years to close with a $US3 trillion market value after topping $US2 trillion for the first time in August 2021, which occurred about two years after the company reached $US1 trillion for the first time.
From nearly bankrupt to a tech empire
The cascading trillions have been driven by the technology empire that Apple has built since Mr Jobs returned to the company in 1997 after being pushed aside by then-CEO John Sculley in 1985.
At the time of Mr Jobs's comeback, Apple was flirting with bankruptcy and so desperate for help that it turned to its once-bitter rival Microsoft for a cash infusion.
Today, Apple makes so much money that it can afford to pay $US105 billion annually in investor dividends and repurchases of its own stock, and still be left with nearly $US56 billion in cash at the end of its last fiscal quarter.
The iPhone, unveiled by Mr Jobs in 2007 with his hallmark showmanship, remains the crown jewel in Apple's kingdom.
Last year, the device accounted more than half of the company's nearly $US400 billion in sales.
The rest of Apple's revenue comes from other products, including the Macintosh computer, iPad, Apple Watch and AirPods.
There is also a services division that includes music and video streaming, warranty programs, fees collected through the iPhone app store and advertising commissions that Google pays to be the default search engine on iPhones.
Although most of Apple's innovations were hatched while Mr Jobs was running the company, most of its wealth has been created under the reign of its current CEO, Tim Cook.
Mr Cook took over as CEO shortly before Jobs died in October 2011.
When Mr Jobs passed the baton to Mr Cook, Apple's market value stood at $US350 billion.
AP