Apple fails to become the most valuable company
PATENT LITIGATOR Apple, despite feverish fanboi reports, has not become the most valuable company in the world, as its market capitalisation of $623.5bn is still eclipsed by that of Petrochina.
Apple's fans regularly trot out the firm's market capitalisation, which is the value of a single share multiplied by the number of shares available. Yesterday Apple's stock finished at an all-time high of $665.15, resulting in a market capitalisation value of $665.15bn, which some fanbois incorrectly claimed made it the most valuable company in the world.
In present day trading and thus ignoring inflation, Apple's market capitalisation doesn't top the charts, with Petrochina, a company traded in New York, Hong Kong and Shanghai worth $722bn.
Apple's present market capitalisation might have taken it beyond Microsoft's 1999 value during the dot-com bubble, though that doesn't account for inflation, which would put Microsoft ahead by a good two hundred billion or so. Accounting for inflation, it is IBM that takes the honour of having the highest historical market capitalisation, with its 1967 share price resulting in a market capitalisation - adjusted for inflation - of $1.3tn, double that of Apple.
Apple fails to become the most valuable company - The Inquirer