Apple is Now Twice the Size of the World’s Second Largest Company

Apple’s market cap has just risen to $775 billion – a new record making it twice the size of the world’s second largest company, Exxon Mobil. For the last few years, it’s always been neck and neck between Apple and Exxon, a global oil giant. Many are seeing this as significant, as consumer technology is now a significantly bigger business than oil; a business which for years has been likened to printing money.

Apple is only the second company to achieve such a feat in the last 30 years – IBM was the last company to double second place, that being Exxon as well.  The difference between Apple and IBM today is symbolic, as Apple famously saw itself as the underdog to ‘Big Blue’, likening them to ‘Big Brother’ in its famous ‘1984’ ad. Just late last year, Apple announced that it was joining IBM in a partnership to bring iOS to the enterprise. Many saw this as IBM asking Apple, its former underdog, for help.

What’s next? Well, Apple isn’t far off becoming the world’s first trillion-dollar company. It was always a question of whether it could happen, but now it’s more of a question of when will it happen. Something incredible when you consider Apple was a company 90 days from bankruptcy in 1997.

Source: The Wall Street Journal