Apple is no longer the world’s most valuable public company

1 min readMay 13, 20226:14 AM

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Sorry Apple fans, your favorite company is no longer the most valuable publicly traded outfit in the world. That honor now belongs to oil firm Saudi Aramco. The latter is now worth just south of $2.43 trillion yesterday after converting its market capitalization to dollars. Apple, on the other hand, took a huge hit in the stock market on Wednesday with the shares declining 5%.

Over the last five trading days, Apple’s shares have declined by $13.51 or 8.66%. Just after the regular trading session closed on Thursday, Apple’s market cap was down to $2.31 trillion. Since it set a 52-week high at $182.94 on January 4th, Apple has seen its value evaporate by 23%. On the other hand, Aramco’s shares are up 27% since the start of the year. In March, the company reported that its full-year earnings doubled thanks to booming oil prices.

Over the last few years, Apple has become the first publicly traded U.S. firm to reach various valuation benchmarks at $1 trillion, $2 trillion, and $3 trillion. When we write about Apple’s valuation we are talking about its market capitalization which is computed by multiplying the current price of Apple’s stock ($142.56) by the number of shares outstanding.

The only other U.S. companies giving Apple a run for the money include Microsoft ($1.91 trillion market cap), and Google parent Alphabet ($1.49 trillion market cap). Apple first went public on December 12th, 1980 at $22 per share. Since then, the company has split its shares several times with the latest taking place in August 2020 (4-1). Taking the stock splits into consideration, Apple’s IPO price was 10 cents per share.

That means if you were lucky enough to buy 100 shares of Apple at the IPO price of $22, you would now own 22,400 shares of the company valued at $3.2 million.

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Questions & Answers

What caused Apple's market capitalisation to drop, leading to its change in ranking?

Apple's market capitalisation dropped due to its shares declining 5% on Wednesday. Over the last five trading days, Apple’s shares had declined by $13.51, representing an 8.66% decrease.

Which company has overtaken Apple as the world's most valuable public company?

Oil firm Saudi Aramco has now become the world's most valuable publicly traded company. Its market capitalisation was just under $2.43 trillion yesterday after conversion to dollars.

How much has Apple's value decreased since its 52-week high earlier this year?

Since setting a 52-week high of $182.94 on January 4th, Apple has seen its value decrease by 23%. Its market cap was down to $2.31 trillion after Thursday's trading session.

What is the current market capitalisation of the two other leading US tech companies mentioned?

Microsoft has a market capitalisation of $1.91 trillion. Google parent Alphabet has a market capitalisation of $1.49 trillion, making them the other U.S. Companies challenging Apple's valuation.

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