Apple is first public company worth $1 trillion
Apple has become the world’s first public company to be worth $1 trillion (£767bn).
The iPhone maker’s market value reached the figure in New York on Thursday and its shares closed at a new record high of $207.39.
The stock has been rising since Tuesday when it reported better than expected results for the three months to June.
Apple beat Silicon Valley rivals such as Amazon and Microsoft to become the first to hit the $1 trillion valuation.
Since the iPhone first went on sale in 2007, Apple shares have soared by 1,100% and have jumped almost a third in the past year.
The rise is even more astonishing – 50,000% – since the company first listed in 1980. That dwarfs the 2,000% increase for the S&P 500 index over the same period.
Last year its sales hit $229bn, with profits of $48.4bn, making it the most profitable listed US company.
Despite its $1 trillion price tag, many analysts still do not view Apple’s shares as expensive given that they trade at about 15 times expected profits, compared with a figure of 82 for Amazon and 25 times for Microsoft.
