Apple: First $1tr company

Its stock has surged more than 50,000% since its 1980 initial public offering

Its stock market value greater than combined capitalisation of Exxon Mobil, Procter & Gamble and AT&T |

Apple Inc became the first $1 trillion (Dh3.67 trillion) publicly listed US company yesterday, crowning a decade-long rise fuelled by its ubiquitous iPhone that transformed it from a niche player in personal computers into a global powerhouse spanning entertainment and communications.

The tech company’s stock jumped 2.8 per cent to as high as $207.05, bringing its gain to about 9 per cent since Tuesday when it reported June-quarter results above expectations and said it bought back $20 billion of its own shares.

Started in the garage of cofounder Steve Jobs in 1976, Apple has pushed its revenue beyond the economic outputs of Portugal, New Zealand and other countries. Along the way, it has changed how consumers connect with one another and how businesses conduct daily commerce. Apple’s stock market value is greater than the combined capitalisation of Exxon Mobil, Procter & Gamble and AT&T. It now accounts for 4 per cent of the S&P 500.

One of three founders, Jobs was driven out of Apple in the mid-1980s, only to return a decade later and rescue the computer company from near bankruptcy. He launched the iPhone in 2007, dropping “Computer” from Apple’s name and super-charging the mobile phone industry, catching Microsoft Corp, Intel Corp, Samsung Electronics and Nokia off guard. That put Apple on a path to overtake Exxon Mobil in 2011 as the largest US company by market value.

The Silicon Valley stalwart’s stock has surged more than 50,000 per cent since its 1980 initial public offering, dwarfing the S&P 500’s approximately 2,000 per cent increase during the same almost four decades.

In 2006, the year before the iPhone launch, Apple generated less than $20 billion in sales and net profit just shy of $2 billion.