Uche Usim

United States-based Apple Computer Company on Wednesday as the firm to cross the $2 trillion dollar mark market capitalisation. 

The company was also the first in the world to cross the $1 trillion mark in August 2018, meaning it doubled in valuation in just over two years to become the first publicly traded U.S. company to reach the milestone.

This makes the iPhone, Mac computers and Apple wristwatch makers the most valuable company in the world.

This also means that the company’s net worth is higher than the entire gross domestic product of the entire 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa including Nigeria and South Africa, which are the largest economies on the continent.

According to data provided by the World Bank, the GDP of the entire region was $1.75 trillion at the end of 2019.

Apple is not the first company in the world to cross the $2 trillion dollar mark as government-owned Saudi Aramco hit the milestone in December 2019.

However, COVID-19 pandemic and low oil prices have  crashed the company’s value.

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After suffering stock value decline at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Apple shares are currently trading at $467.78 per share.

The company is planning a four-for-one split at the end of August to make the shares affordable for investors.

This split will not affect the company’s value as it would now have more shares trading at a lower price.

Amazon and Microsoft are also inching close to the $2 trillion mark and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is now worth more than $1 trillion.

Based on a share count of more than 4.275 billion, Apple broke the barrier just before 11 a.m. ET, when its price rose to $467.77.

The company posted a historically strong third quarter in late July, including $59.7 billion in revenue and double-digit growth in its products and services. Apple saw widespread retail closures during the quarter, especially in the United States but said work-from-home trends and strong online sales boosted overall operations.

While the mark is largely symbolic, it does underscore CEO Tim Cook’s success at changing the company’s story. Investors have started seeing Apple’s business less like other hardware makers and more like a software company, as indicated by Apple’s quickly rising price-earnings ratio, which is now over 33.(with agency report)