“Apple’s value on the stock market briefly rose to $400 billion on Thursday, a record high for what was already the world’s most valuable technology company,” David Goldman reports for CNNMoney.
“Shares ended the day slightly down, leaving Apple with a $398 billion market value.,” Goldman reports. “Still, that puts Apple in some pretty exclusive territory. Only Exxon Mobil (XOM) has a higher valuation, at about $420 billion. PetroChina (PTR) is Apple’s closest competitor, at $270 billion, and Microsoft (MSFT) follows at $235 billion.”
Goldman reports, “Apple’s market cap is higher than the gross domestic product of Greece, Austria, Argentina, or South Africa. Despite its size, Apple is still one of the fastest growing technology companies. The company will report its finances for the past quarter next week, and analysts expect Apple to announce that its sales grew by 45% compared to last year, according to a survey conducted by Thomson Reuters.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Kerry Classen” and “Now, Now…” for the heads up.]
My iPad alone is worth more than Athens.
sure, and my bike is worth more than me !
i think Apple isn’t even worth the acropolis.
the math is also wrong, Apples closest competitor is Exxon, not Petrochina, or does “closest” mean something else nowadays ?
Erm….isn’t GDP a measure of annual output rather than asset value?
Apples, oranges, fruit salad. It’s all the same, right?
Per Investopedia:
Not surprising. Those lazy bums of southern Europe have been siphoning from the teats of the European Central Bank for years since the 2004 Olympic Games which was a colossal waste of funds and resulted in Greece being the deadbeat of Europe. They were able to enjoy the standards of living that the Euro brought to the European Union but was riding on the backs of the Germans for far too long.
Now the time to pay the piper has come and those deadbeats are going to have to default on the majority of their loans or in two years’ time Apple’s stock market value will be twice the GNP of Greece having had to shrink its economy through austerity measures imposed on it by the ECB. That’s what comes from practising dodgy accounting methodology in order to join the European Monetary Union.
These Euro commies and socialist deadbeats have it coming to them.
I agree. We, northern-Europeans, have already thrown too much money at them. They should get kicked out of the Euro before they bring us all down (including the Americans).
You are probably a German with TV education, so I bet it never crossed your mind that there might be a reason behind such an idiotic comparison. Greece has always fought for itself and we are going to overcome our problems one more time, like we did after WW2. At that time, your 88 million country invaded and occupied 8 million Greece, just to help fascist Italy who had previously attacked us (and was badly beaten). We were destroyed, we were never paid war reparations and now you want us destroyed one more time. I don’t think I can consider you and and those who think like you as civilized human beings…
The Greeks were – I repeat – were, once a great nation, with great thinkers, artists and warriors. Then came socialism and more people living off taxes than paying taxes. This Obama character is trying to do the same in the USA. Let’s pray we stop him next year.
What a load of crap. Yes the Greeks (and Italians) have financial problems but no, it is not so much living off of taxes as it is NOT paying taxes. There is tons of money in both countries except many non-socilaists (read greedy businessmen) avoid paying taxes like the plague. Most everything is black market so stop with the Obama-socialist bullshit…you come across like a toole, Jean Poole.
‘non-socilaists (read greedy businessmen). What on earth are socilaists?. You seem to be a union thug or another getting more than you’re giving. You believe that Obama is NOT a socialist? Well, he’s definitely a marxist, Just like his father. So you also believe that Greeks are crooks – for not paying the taxes they owe. I agree with you.
You’re an idiot. The Greek empire failed because it was beaten by the Romans. Then the Roman empire imploded and was superseded by empires from the Netherlands, England, and the US. And they all fail. That’s the nature of empires. What they have in common is that they are filthy with nationalist pig dogs waxing philosophical about how superior they are to the peoples they have conquered.
Until they fail. Then they generally shut up.
I liked that. I liked that a lot.
Nope, I’m Dutch. And I love when people take the bait.
I hope you don’t believe that an ignorant Dutch is any better than an ignorant German.
I believe ignorant Dutch who pay taxes and don’t beg for money from others are better than Greek profiteers.
I’m glad that the poorer Australian ‘states’ (e.g. NT, Tasmania & ACT) received more of the country taxes as a ‘gift’ rather than a ‘loan’, otherwise these states would be bankrupt also.
What did the EU THINK would happen — unless they PLANNED for these EU states to become debt-slave states?
What would have happened in the USA if the richer states had loaned tax money to the poorer USA states? Oh yes, they already did!
Interestingly enough, the primary reason for Greece’s insolvency is failure of ordinary people to pay their income taxes. The tax rates are pretty much inline with the rest of the EU land, but the tax revenue rates are significantly lower, much more comparable to those of the US (although per-capita taxation in the US seems to be lowest, by far, in the developed world). If Greeks did pay for the services their government provides (by filing their taxes as required by law), their government would have been flush with cash throughout the entire crisis, and no austerity measure would have been necessary.
It’s not just their “failure” to pay income taxes that has brought so much of southern Europe low. It’s their social expenditures. Most don’t work a proper 40-hour week and they often retire (in generous pensions) in their early 50’s. Just recently pedophiles released from prison were deemed eligible for “disability” payments because of their, uh, “problems”. It’s no wonder the system is on the verge of collapse.
There is no nation-state in existence that does not have a sordid past. Usually we talk about the problems of other countries to divert attention away from that of our own…
This is a moronic comparison.
Apple’s worth cannot be compared to the annual GDP of a country. It’s not measuring the same thing. Apple’s worth is not an “annual” output like GDP.
It’d be fairer to compare Apple’s sales of $108B to Greece’s GDP, then again, that’s not fair either, since the $108B is not all generated in the US. Ideally, you’d want to take the US-based value-added of Apple’s $108B, and compare that to Greece’s GDP.
@Ballmer’s left nut
Greece is looking good compared to the gigantic 131 Trillion dollar US total current and future debt! Open your eyes dude, you are now living in a socialist/ communist country. Now go get your food stamps and watch the United Soviet States of America go down the path of Ancient Rome and Greece in silence.
… take long. Is there anything that can’t devolve into a “Nopublicans did THIS, Commie Demos did THAT” argument of the witless?
Please, spare us the pointless comparisons.
That makes me think of the….eh, forget it.
“Apple’s market cap is higher than the gross domestic product of Greece, Austria, Argentina, or South Africa.”
The proper comparison might be Apple’s gross income, not its market cap. There’s one thing these countries have that Apple (thankfully) doesn’t have: outstanding debt. (Apple’s is a pittance, and could easily be paid off.)
Opah!
Ironically, Apple pursues a greek ideal: the alliance of technology and the humanities.
Apples and Oranges.
Greece is a beautiful country.
Or: Apples and Olives…
A single piece pigeon shit, on the ground of the Acropolis, is still worth more than the entire Apple. Oh yeah!
I am a Greek New Yorker. You wanna do something about it?