Apple has reach a market value of over US$700 billion, which makes it the biggest and most valuable company in the world by a ridiculous amount. The next largest company, Exxon Mobil, is only worth US$405 billion; with Microsoft a distant third at US$395 billion. While many critics would like to think that it has not been as successful without Steve Jobs around to provide his vision, the current valuation would seem to indicate otherwise.
The Dow Jones stats team has compiled some of the more interesting facts about Apple now that it has broken new capitalist records. For instance, it is now bigger than Samsung, Lenovo, HTC, HP, BlackBerry, Google, and Sony combined. Number were not listed, but it would be safe to say that the iPhone maker has nothing to worry about for the near future. This news comes as Samsung reports severely reduced profits, showing a massive difference in fortunes for the two rivals.
Tim Cook, who took over from the cult-like figure of Jobs, has managed to double the value of Apple since he took over in 2011. While it has not been smooth sailing for Cook, he did manage to steer the company to new heights. Apple’s share prices has similarly risen during the same time period from US$53.74 to US$119.35, up US$65.61 or 122-percent. Of course, it would probably make shareholders happier if the company paid out dividends every now and then.
Speaking of shareholders, Apple has bought back more than 10-percent of its own stock since September 2012; which is likely to have helped drive the share price up as fewer shares in the company now exist on the market. It is also likely to have made some people very, very rich.
The Dow Jones notes an average annual growth of 35-percent for the company; and if it keeps going at this rate it will be worth US$1 trillion by 2016. All this means that Apple is only growing stronger, and not even recent quality control issues like Bendgate are capable of slowing the technology leviathan down.
[Source: Wall Street Journal]
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