Apple's Value Soars To $600 billion
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By David Goldman and Stacy Cowley @CNNMoneyTech April 10, 2012: 11:55 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Apple's rocket trip into the stock-market stratosphere took it to a lofty new height Tuesday morning, when Apple's valuation briefly crossed the $600 billion mark. That's a milestone only one other company has ever achieved. Microsoft's market cap topped $600 billion in late 1999, at the height of the dot-com bubble.
The pinnacle came on Dec. 30, 1999, when Microsoft hit an intraday high share price of $119.94 (the equivalent of $45.57 today, adjusting for splits). That gave Microsoft a market capitalization of $618.9 billion, the highest ever recorded by a publicly traded company.
Microsoft now trades at a valuation of around $260 billion.
Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) shares reached a record high of $644 in Tuesday morning trading, nudging the company just past the $600 billion line.
Apple's new record comes less than six weeks after it reached the $500 billion mark, another extremely exclusive achievement. Only Microsoft, ExxonMobil, Cisco (CSCO, Fortune 500), General Electric (GE, Fortune 500) and Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) have ever surpassed that mark.
Despite its size, Apple is still one of the fastest growing technology companies. The company reported in January that its sales grew 73% last year. It also posted the second most profitable quarter in history for a U.S. company.
The stock has been soaring for the past three years, but went on a tear in 2012. Apple shares reached $500 for the first time in February, then topped $600 in March.
One especially bullish analyst, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, thinks Apple could be the world's first $1 trillion company by 2014.
It was only three months ago that Apple's market valuation rose to $400 billion for the first time. On Jan. 25, it passed ExxonMobil (XOM, Fortune 500) as the most valuable company on the stock market. Exxon now has the second-highest valuation at about $391 billion. Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) is third.
Despite Apple's stunning rise in share price, the company's stock gains haven't kept pace with its earnings. That means Apple's shares are relatively cheap.
Apple had $127.8 billion in sales during the 2011 calendar year, putting it neck-and-neck with Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, Fortune 500), the nation's largest tech company by revenue. This year, Apple is on pace to become the biggest technology company in the world, measured by revenue, outpacing current global No. 1 Samsung.
That's a pretty stunning achievement for a 35-year-old company that had a market cap of just $10 billion a decade ago.
Here's another fun fact: Apple CEO Tim Cook's staggering nine-figure pay package is getting even bigger.
When Cook took the helm in August from then-CEO Steve Jobs, Apple's board gave him an eye-popping grant of 1 million company shares. It came with a giant restriction: a 10-year vesting schedule. Cook is eligible to collect the first half of his stock package in 2016 and the rest in 2021, if he remains employed with Apple.
At the time of the grant, Cook's 1 million shares were worth $384 million. Apple's closing share price on Monday values them at $636 million.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Apple's rocket trip into the stock-market stratosphere took it to a lofty new height Tuesday morning, when Apple's valuation briefly crossed the $600 billion mark. That's a milestone only one other company has ever achieved. Microsoft's market cap topped $600 billion in late 1999, at the height of the dot-com bubble.
The pinnacle came on Dec. 30, 1999, when Microsoft hit an intraday high share price of $119.94 (the equivalent of $45.57 today, adjusting for splits). That gave Microsoft a market capitalization of $618.9 billion, the highest ever recorded by a publicly traded company.
Microsoft now trades at a valuation of around $260 billion.
Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) shares reached a record high of $644 in Tuesday morning trading, nudging the company just past the $600 billion line.
Apple's new record comes less than six weeks after it reached the $500 billion mark, another extremely exclusive achievement. Only Microsoft, ExxonMobil, Cisco (CSCO, Fortune 500), General Electric (GE, Fortune 500) and Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) have ever surpassed that mark.
Despite its size, Apple is still one of the fastest growing technology companies. The company reported in January that its sales grew 73% last year. It also posted the second most profitable quarter in history for a U.S. company.
The stock has been soaring for the past three years, but went on a tear in 2012. Apple shares reached $500 for the first time in February, then topped $600 in March.
One especially bullish analyst, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, thinks Apple could be the world's first $1 trillion company by 2014.
It was only three months ago that Apple's market valuation rose to $400 billion for the first time. On Jan. 25, it passed ExxonMobil (XOM, Fortune 500) as the most valuable company on the stock market. Exxon now has the second-highest valuation at about $391 billion. Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) is third.
Despite Apple's stunning rise in share price, the company's stock gains haven't kept pace with its earnings. That means Apple's shares are relatively cheap.
Apple had $127.8 billion in sales during the 2011 calendar year, putting it neck-and-neck with Hewlett-Packard (HPQ, Fortune 500), the nation's largest tech company by revenue. This year, Apple is on pace to become the biggest technology company in the world, measured by revenue, outpacing current global No. 1 Samsung.
That's a pretty stunning achievement for a 35-year-old company that had a market cap of just $10 billion a decade ago.
Here's another fun fact: Apple CEO Tim Cook's staggering nine-figure pay package is getting even bigger.
When Cook took the helm in August from then-CEO Steve Jobs, Apple's board gave him an eye-popping grant of 1 million company shares. It came with a giant restriction: a 10-year vesting schedule. Cook is eligible to collect the first half of his stock package in 2016 and the rest in 2021, if he remains employed with Apple.
At the time of the grant, Cook's 1 million shares were worth $384 million. Apple's closing share price on Monday values them at $636 million.
Comments
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iPad is still irrelevant to gaming and they're deluding themselves if they think ? are actually checking for iOS.
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iPad is still irrelevant to gaming and they're deluding themselves if they think ? are actually checking for iOS.As of March 6, 2012, Apple's App Store contained more than 550,000 iOS applications,[3] which have collectively been downloaded more than 25 billion times. It had a 16% share of the smartphone operating system units sold in the last quarter of 2010, behind both Google's Android and Nokia's Symbian.[4] In May 2010 in the United States, it accounted for 59% of mobile web data consumption (including use on both the iPod Touch and the iPad).[5]
What now? -
why do folks take their electronics so personal and seriously. i got a driod phone and ipod and a kindle. ? i like all 3. ipads are cool they just not worth 600 to me. but if folks want to spend that then good for them.
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why do folks take their electronics so personal and seriously. i got a driod phone and ipod and a kindle. ? i like all 3. ipads are cool they just not worth 600 to me. but if folks want to spend that then good for them.
What's good on the Fire? Thinking about getting one soon -
iPad is still irrelevant to gaming and they're deluding themselves if they think ? are actually checking for iOS.
LOL. I dunno how a person can read the above and still be this detached from reality. Your right Immortal, its 1996 and Sony is still killing it.
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iPad is still irrelevant to gaming and they're deluding themselves if they think ? are actually checking for iOS.As of March 6, 2012, Apple's App Store contained more than 550,000 iOS applications,[3] which have collectively been downloaded more than 25 billion times. It had a 16% share of the smartphone operating system units sold in the last quarter of 2010, behind both Google's Android and Nokia's Symbian.[4] In May 2010 in the United States, it accounted for 59% of mobile web data consumption (including use on both the iPod Touch and the iPad).[5]
What now?
What games are you looking forward to for iPad at E3? Which developers are producing AAA quality titles for iPad?
If anyone is divorced from reality it's you. Who said anything about Sony? I said Apple is irrelevant when it comes to console gaming, Apple can think they're a threat with the iPad, but they aren't right now. Different constituency. -
Apple clownin.....I wish I had a use for the iPad though
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Samsung might take them
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@joshuaboy
i ? with it. I like it b/c it's not as big as ipads and i ride the train a lot. folks be snatchinn them big ass ipads out of folks hands and making a run for it.
Interface is is nice to look at and very easy to navigate around.
only thing i had to figure out was how to convert movies i had on my computer to a format the fire can read. So i can just drag and drop movies so you can have something to watch without having to have a wifi signal. But it already reads mp4 files i just had some .avi files that i wanted to keep. found a free program for that call mirro
Had it since December and haven't had a issue yet. only thing is they should have made the sound louder. it sounds great with your headphones but not all that loud without them.
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This is market cap NOT actual net worth. Keep in mind that market cap is how much people are willing to pay for the company. You never want to over pay for a stock , the object of the game is to buy low then sell high.
Apple's net worth is actually $76 billion dollars (per share that works out to about $95), Microsoft is worth $57 billion dollars.
There are companies like General Electric that are worth $116 billion dollars and companies like the big 6 banks that have trillions of dollars in assets under management.
talk to em -
Apple's net worth is $300 Billion as of 2011....before the 73% increase in sales
http://exploredia.com/apple-net-worth-2011/
http://www.helium.com/items/2060835-apple-is-now-worth-more-than-300-billion
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Who ever bought stock in Apple in 99 is a genius
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Who ever bought stock in Apple in 99 is a genius
I picked some up when they dropped to $80 a share a few years back.
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@rage
When did they drop to 80? I always thought they were on the up and up...How many shares?... -
Since ? always say i cape for Sony and don't have stock in them I'm going to look them up with all the doom and gloom talk... If the price is right I'm investing in them...lol
Then I can talk my ? to focus and them....lol -
@rage
When did they drop to 80? I always thought they were on the up and up...How many shares?...
Just before the recession hit, I think it was like Sept/Oct 2008. I got a fair amount...nothing crazy.
