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Apple Is Now the Most Valuable Company In History
derekmead writes "Apple, as of this morning, is valued at $621 billion, thanks to a stock price that spiked at $663.10 per share (and that has risen this afternoon). That finally beats Microsoft, who previously held the record for most valuable company in 1999 at $619 billion. Incredibly, Apple has almost doubled its valuation in the last year, when it topped Exxon-Mobil for most valuable American company with a valuation of $346 billion. It's not the cleanest comparison, but to give you an idea of how much $621 billion actually is, only 23 countries had a GDP higher than that in 2011. So, basically, Apple alone is worth more than what 200+ countries in the world could produce in an entire year."
...as an unabashedly pro-Apple piece, isn't an argument for a "-1, Flamebait" moderation option on main page article postings on slashdot, I don't know what is. ;-)
Issac Newton knew a thing or two about apples. What goes up must come down.
(/local/home/curiosity)-#who -u|grep thecat|cut -c 44-49|xargs kill -9
If you actually read right to the end of the article, it states that adjusted for inflation, Microsoft is still over $850 billion. So while Apple is a gigantic company, it hasn't broken any records.
DISCLAIMER: I'm neither a PaidMicrosoftShill(tm) nor affected by the Apple Reality Distortion Field(tm)
I'm going to have to say no.
Based in 2012 dollars, Microsoft's 1999 value of $619 billion would be equivalent to $851 billion today. Apple still has quite a ways to go.
Hey slashdot I have another click-worthy article for you (In caps so you get more views): BREAKING NEWS: APPLE IS WORTH MORE... THAN ITSELF!
Is really apple worth more than the actual product of 200 countries? Or is it just inflated stock of a company that sells overpriced comodities?
Ask occam's razor... I'm supposed to be working.
This does not account for inflation. In real terms, Microsoft was considerably more valuable in 1999.
What would be the value of the British east india company in today's dollars?
I can't believe Apple is more valuable than the British East India company, or any number of other ventures. You need to measure it in terms of global GDP at the time, or gold, or silver. All of these measures have their flaws (e.g., discovery of vast ammounts of gold in the New World distorted its value for a while). If you're just talking nominal US dollar value then fine; but that's not all of history. It's not such a simple thing to measure.
Microsoft in 1999 was worth $850B in today's dollars. Apple has a ways to go to have the highest market cap ever.
Why is Congress paying more attention to the MAFIAA?
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
For decades home computers were targeted towards nerds: arcane commands to memorize, obscure trivia to learn, obtuse error messages, things not working right. Apple turned that entire thing on its head. They started making computers easy to use, things that "just work", without requiring arcane knowledge to use and do what you want. They built products PEOPLE wanted, not products engineers wanted, and people flocked to buy those products en mass. Say what you will about them but more than any other company Apple made personal computing personal.
First of all, the value isn't adjusted for inflation. In real terms, Microsoft is still king.
Secondly, the capitalization of a company is a stock quantity, not a flow quantity like GDP. Capitalization is simply the market's perception of the company's value at any given instant. GDP is the actual value of all production in a country in a year.
In other words, the GDP comparison is completely ridiculous and out of place. A more appropriate comparison would be Apple's net income vs. a country's GDP, or Apple's capitalization vs. the equity of a country (of whichever definition).
Apple is replaying their history during 90s.
It's eerie, really. Soon after Macs began its success, MS sold their graphical OS through just about all hardware makers, Apple sued and lost, and Jobs's got ousted, and Apple shriveled up. Just replace "ousted" with "died" and MS/Windows with Google/Android.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
It's not the cleanest comparison, but to give you an idea of how much $621 billion actually is, only 23 countries had a GDP higher than that in 2011. So, basically, Apple alone is worth more than what 200+ countries in the world could produce in an entire year.
First of all, I went to your referenced world fact book site and found 24 countries above that threshold, not 23. Second of all, why on Earth would you compare income overtime to estimated market valuation? It feels as logically unsound as comparing miles to miles per hour. Why pick GDP? You could say things like it's a little under the adjusted U.S. cost of the Vietnam War or at least clarify the last sentence.
http://www.sqlite.org/apple-and-sqlite.gif ;-)
It's hard to measure the value of private companies, but we should not ignore the fact that they do exists.
Ever heard of the British East India Company?
This does not account for all the new iPhone 5 chargers and accessories that will be selling in the near future.
Facebook, a nothing income company that hasn't even found a working business model: IPO for 100 billion. Apple, a maker of expensive shiny trinkets, the largest market cap on the street. Benjamin Graham would have a lot to say about times like these. I sure hope most of your money is in bonds right now because this next one is going to hurt even more than the last one. But go on chumps, keep buying into the bubble. It's going to go up forever and we'll all be rich!
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
There are not even 200 countries in the world. The teams that FIFA and the IOC allows to compete are not necessarily actual countries.
Clicked pie.
Let's not confuse what a company is worth with what a company costs.
Microsoft = Borg
Apple = Ferengi
posting to undo moderation
wondering how long it will be before Apple has its own armed forces, but...
What's 1 Vatican in Libraries of Congress?
I don't work for Apple or even particularly like Apple products (I had a phase, so I still own a couple older models). But I do enjoy the benefits of money flowing into Cupertino and other South Bay communities. Job market in Silicon Valley is good, not just tech jobs but even construction is picking up a bit. The state and local governments are still pretty financially messed up.
But I do think one way to economic recovery is to make truck loads of money, then spend it. (sorry if that sounds like trickle-down economics)
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Who says they are?
Unix is user friendly, it's just selective about who its friends are.
The more it grows the more painful will it be when it rapidly shrinks or even suddenly collapses. And it will. Eventually.
This is The Prophecy.
Give it a month.
Correction: Public company. Aramco (state-owned) is likely more valuable than Apple.
That's it.
Eventually it will sue itself and this new bubble will just explode.
Furthermore, Apple has ridiculous profit margins, where Microsoft was giving away software in order to get market share at times.
"Apple alone is worth more than what 200+ countries in the world could produce in an entire year."
What's the betting that EVERY country in the third world hellhole that is AFRICA is in that 200+? Hilarious.
When do you think AFRICANS will be producing iPads and iPods? How about NEVER. How about some time after MONKEYS produce them?
I think the Africans will be next in line as cheap labor after the standard of living and incomes in China and India improve to their point where they are no longer cheap yet they will all want access to cheap imported goods. iPads aren't made in China because rural farmers are naturally good at assembling electronics, but because the $10/day they get paid for the work is much more than they'd earn on the farm and the work is much easier despite the long hours.
It will take years, perhaps decades, to get to the point where Africa becomes a major manufacturing hub, but I really believe that day will come.
Bubble bubble bubble.
http://slopeofhope.typepad.com/.a/6a00e009898222883301761756d819970c-800wi
Gonna blow.
Before everyone gets carried away do we remember when one square mile of Tokyo rel estate was worth more than the entire state of California?
No matter what the stock price a company that sells computers and gadgets will never be the world's most valuable company.
Regards,
Chris
Regards, Chris
"Largest Technology Company, as of this morning, is valued at $621 billion, thanks to a stock price that spiked at $663.10 per share (and that has risen this afternoon). That finally beats Now-Second Largest Technology Company, who previously held the record for most valuable company in 1999 at $619 billion. Incredibly, Largest Technology Company has almost doubled its valuation in the last year, when it topped Non-Technology Company for most valuable American company with a valuation of $346 billion. It's not the cleanest comparison, but to give you an idea of how much $621 billion actually is, only 23 countries had a GDP higher than that in 2011. So, basically, Largest Technology Company alone is worth more than what 200+ countries in the world could produce in an entire year."
Can you reasonably argue that this is biased reporting? What company is it biased towards? It doesn't even say something like: "The maker of product". It even gives context to the value. When a technology company becomes (arguably) the largest company in recorded history, I expect to SEE IT REPORTED ON SLASHDOT .
So, basically, Apple alone is worth more than what 200+ countries in the world could produce in an entire year.
Correction. Apple is currently valued more than 200+ countries by stock markets. Stock markets have no direct way of valuing countries, and Apple could not output its entire market value in goods and services in one year anyway, so that's really comparing two completely dissimilar things.
The problem with sourcing labor in Africa is the fact that governments where the labor is cheap are not stable. The governments in Africa where the government is stable, labor is not cheap. And trying to source cheap labor from where it is cheap to where governments are stable will make those stable governments eventually become unstable.
This has been the problem in Africa since the continent was subdivided by European colonial powers many times over. As these colonial powers have been forced out of their role as the reigning power, they left huge power vacuums that were filled by strong-arm dictators, and those few countries that did try to make popular democratic governments work created a greater amount more chaos than order and were quickly silenced by military juntas (led by strong-arm dictator-types) trying to enforce some form of stability.
Good, bad or otherwise, Africa is changing. As more and more people are being educated in Western schools, they are returning to their home countries and making life better, small changes at a time. Better food, health care and better primary education will go a long way to making the people of Africa more able to cope with an undefined future. But I do not see significant rigorous investment into Africa as a manufacturing hub until the governments are stable, and that won't happen as long as the people are willing to live under the yoke of strong men whose only goal is to enrich themselves.
...apple stock price falls and yesterday's post about apple being the "most valuable" company is no longer relevent
stock price isn't exactly any kind of indicator of value... surely the world would have realized this after the whole dotcom bubble and collapse
the headline should have been "Apple Is Now the Most Valuable Company In History today"
And yet Apple contributes very little to the domestic US economy, i.e. no manufacturing jobs. What if Apple made its devices here in the US and accepted a value o 600 billion instead of 621 billion? I own Apple hardware but I hardly place Apple on any kind of pedestal.
Jobs is still doing what Jobs does best: smoking on the devil's johnson.
To ensure perfect aim, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target
Apple does not impress me by calling themselves an American company when not one of there products has even a single screw assembled in America. Stupid slogan, Designed In America on the products do nothing but make me laugh. Bring production to America. Give the Americans a decent wage. Hell they can afford it with a 600+ Billion dollar profit. Time to give back to all the suckers who give to you.
"If this is not a record, then let's restate it saying that Apple reached $621 Billion with a PE ratio of about 15-16. Microsoft set the record with $619 Billion with an PE ration of 88, about what Facebook had with all its hype."
And this, in a nutshell, is the difference.
Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
In May I stopped by the Sunnyvale Main Post Office (which has been at its current location since 1975 and had a lease on the building through 2016) and found notices posted on the doors stating that they were moving to the northern edge of the city in two weeks. Turns out Apple was in such desperate need of additional office space they signed a build-to-suit agreement with the landlord, who presumably was paid enough money to make it worthwhile to exercise a termination provision in the lease and kick the Post Office out. I forgot about this and drove over there again a couple weeks after their last day to find the site already leveled! Gone. I don't see why they couldn't have just taken Palm's old HQ across the street... HP's not doing anything useful with it.
Anyone ever have Microsoft or Exxon level their city's main post office?
Apple gives back very generously to the shareholders. It's not my fault you put your money in Microsoft stock back in the 2000s like a chump.
Market capitalization is just the total value of the company,
Not exactly. Market Cap is the total number of publicly held shares multiplied by the share price. The share price, is whatever someone last sold a share of the company to someone else for. In reality, if everyone holding shares tried to sell them, they would get NOWHERE near the last price paid for the shares. The share price will go down FAST if there is more supply (more people selling). Market Cap truly is a somewhat meaningless metric because really it is a measure of the marginal value of marginal portion of the company's overall value as measured by the price paid for that marginal portion (the most recent share traded). To take that and extrapolate as the total value of the company is absolutely bullshit and anyone who falls for it is a fool. Go ahead and believe that it is worth that. Now everyone try to sell their shares. Yeah, right. Market Cap != Value of Company.
A more important metric to look at is P/E Ration (Price to Earnings Ration). That is Current Price Per Share / Current Earnings (Profit) per share. That's what matters when valuing a company.
Saudi Aramco is far more valuable. Estimates of its value in 2010 ranging from $2.2 trillion to $7 trillion.
...Time to start shorting Apple.
Youre all just butt hurt apple is the best and android users are the retarded offspring of apple.
Worth the most in the world? Oh yeah, their products, services, policies and company must really suck. They are so terrible they are the most valuable company IN THE WORLD. /sarcasm off.
No really droid users you suck, android sucks and apple is the best. If they werent the best they wouldnt be worth so much.,
Issac Newton knew a thing or two about apples. What goes up must come down.
The Apple never went up. It started there and went in one direction...
Just like the current Apple. It's accelerating continuously and will obviously keep heading that direction until something very big and groundy comes along to halt it. And just what would that be? Even Android just attacks one of the many strong growth pillars atop which Apple is built.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I didn't say they wouldn't be on top, but they aren't going to be a growth stock as they have in the past.
They have not been a growth stock in the past - or at least, stock price did not really track real growth.
The price of Apple stock has been drug upwards kicking and screaming, based only on how much actual cash Apple had on hand and almost nothing based on potential. Only in the last few weeks have investors started to think "hmm, perhaps this Apple company has something going" and is suddenly starting to accelerate the stock price to match other popular company P/E values.
Now AAPL is starting to become a real growth stock. Still not too late to buy in before the real growth hits...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
If they grow their business at 0% then their current share price is way over-valued.
At a P/E of 15 or so, not very over-valued. Just slightly.
But we know the growth will not be 0%. It will be more like 20-30%, quarter after quarter, for some time.
There is so much more room to grow, in the computer market, the tablet market, the phone market, the digital media market...
Sure there's the possibility of an eventual ceiling but it's way more than fifteen times Apple's current size.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Perhaps there will still be an empty cardboard box for you under the bridge along with the guys that shorted at $100, $200, $300, etc.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I purchased Apple stock back in 2000 when it was selling for less than the cash it had in the bank. That is, the brand was worth less than zero. This was right around the height of the internet bubble, and Apple had no "internet play". I bought the stock because I was starting a new company that would consume all my time and wouldn't have time to look at my "portfolio". So I bought Apple, because, get this, it was about the "safest" play out there. Because Apple had a lot of cash in the bank and net income, I figured the worst thing that could happen is it would remain about where it was.
AAPL's yield is currently around 1.5% I don't invest in anything that pays less than 3% yield, and there are plenty of raw stocks that can do that without buying into a mutual fund where you pay some manager to figure it out for you.
If you're holding AAPL for the dividend, you're wasting your money.
Load up the VW with Libraries of Congress and drive it over here. It might run a bit slow, but it should get at least 40 rods to the hogshead.
During the 1990s, Cisco had the world's largest market cap.
EZ come, EZ go.
Is Apple REALLY worth more than the other 5 major players in the tech industry?
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-apple-really-worth-more-sum-microsoft-dell-google-facebook-and-hp
Comparing Apple market cap to countries GDP is bizarro math. You can compare Apple's yearly earnings to GDP, if you really wanted, but that would not be as dramatic.
Inflation adjusting Micro$oft max stock price is equally stupid. If you want to know the value in 2012, look at the stock price in 2012.
Now that I have the dividend, and as noted true growth has just started - I'm buying more. Only an idiot would sell right now, just as the stock is pulled inexorably upward by sheer momentum alone. Just the nature growth, even without new products, means a higher stock price four months from now than from today.
So why would I get rid of the stock and waste further profits?
I've said the same thing over the past few years, but retards such as yourself simply cannot see how obvious the rise is. When further rise in the stock is no longer obvious to all but the most idiotic, then I might consider selling some or all of the stock.
But today, is not that day.
Short if you believe otherwise, but get out before you get hurt too badly.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Valuable as in greed - sure. valuable as in propelling the planet forward - hell no, they'll sue anybody over the most ridiculous things - trying to prevent progress.
Oh and time to sell the stock, it can only go down hill now.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
Despite their detractors and legal issues, it would seem that Apple is laughing all the way to the bank for both revenue and stock value.
Say what you will, the "walled garden" would seem to be quite acceptable to a significant percentage of the population.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Apple is now, has been and forever will be... absolutely Worthless...
I smell a bubble about to burst. If the market is this hyped up anything less than a staggering improvement will cause disappointment. Maybe it will all be ok but I'd be selling right now.
Bitter and proud of it.
who manufactures all Android phones out of hemp using union labor right here in the USA.
Apple has a ways to go
Not being critical, just asking: what is the etymology of the phrase "a ways"? Surely it is plural?
I've also seen USians say "a $10 savings". Again, use of "a" with a plural.
Apple's fortunes at this point I don't think are much affected by Microsoft.
I'm actually hoping Windows 8 and Surface do well, the Surface hardware looks really interesting.
But Apple has many growth areas where Microsoft just has such a small foothold, it's really more up to Apple to mess up than it is likely a competitor can overtake them for some time.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Saudi Aramco was estimated to be worth $781 billion in 2005
A game has objectives and is competitive, anything else is just play
TechCrunch (Aug 20, 2012): Apple Is Not The Most Valuable Company In The History Of The World - IBM Won The Prize In 1967 With A Value of $1.3 Trillion
http://techcrunch.com/2012/08/20/apple-is-not-the-most-valuable-company-in-the-history-of-the-world-ibm-won-the-prize-in-1967-with-a-value-of-1-3-trillion/
Columbia Journalism Review (Aug 20, 2012): Misleading and incomplete coverage of Apple's 'record' value
http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/misleading_and_incomplete_cove.php
So many comments here talk about "meh, no big deal, adjust for inflation...Microsoft blah, blah, blah".
However in late December, 1999 when Microsoft hit its peak, it was trading at a PE ratio of about 72 as compared to Apple with a multiple of about 15. In other words, adjusting for DEFLATION, for about $618-622 Billion today, you would have a company (Apple) that makes 4.8 times as much profit as in 1999 (Microsoft).
Or simply applying Microsoft's 72 PE ratio to Apple today, Apple would be worth $3 Trillion.
If you believe that Apple of USA is worth more than Aramco of Saudi Arabia, then I hereby offer you the Rialto Bridge for sale, complete with two dozen gondolas, seven shiploads of oriental spices and Jessica, my beautiful daughter.
Jobs has finally completed the 'Trek of Gates' by parlaying garbage coupled with stuff appropriated from other companies and projects, into a marketing phenomenon and mounds of cash. LINUX at the heart of it, else it would go nowhere.
...if it weren't for MS, Apple would have gone away long before the iPod ever saw the light of day.
Let us not forget about the first company to ever break the $1 trillion mark. That was the Chinese oil company PetroChina which did it on November 06, 2007 (I think that is the correct date it doesn't specify in the article so I used the date line). The value has since pulled back quite a bit to reasonable levels and most of the shares were still held by the government but it was the first company to hit the trillion dollar mark.
Time to offend someone
You lil' calculation there assumes I bought it at $600...
Can't say this is any better than what we had though. The tech industry needs room to innovate and foster small ideas so they can turn into The Next Big Thing. This is what drives the economy, the job market, and industry growty. You can't have that when someone is always out-gunning you with litigation or strongarm industry tactics. All you get that way is a stagnation and monoculture.
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
More likely Apple would empoly the Red Bull to herd all the existing unicorns carring iPhones into the ocean for over sea delivery to the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Unicorn
Have you seen current "IP" laws?
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
without china apple couldnt produce shit! evil ass company!
Using absolute numbers in share value, as absolute sales figures at box offices is a poor indicator of record setting sales numbers, doesn't accurate reflect record setting value.
Learn some economics. 1999 dollars were worth much more than 2012 dollars. This premise is a joke.
What I meant was... what makes you think the government isn't paying attention to Apple?
It's easy to see that Copyright laws are written to benefit the MAFIAA. However, the current patent law mess is what is allowing Apple to go after Samsung.
Unix is user friendly, it's just selective about who its friends are.
They must be as valuable as yesterday's diarrhea then.
little_bit_of_money / 300 million people = gnat's fart
stock price is up because Apple exceeded expectations for on their quarterly earnings.