Apple spent a few moments in excess of $ 3 trillion in market cap, and continues to dominate the rankings head and shoulders.
Three trillion dollars. This is the barely conceivable figure that Apple’s market capitalization reached on January 3; it becomes the very first company in the world to exceed this symbolic milestone, barely two years after having crossed the threshold of the trillion.
This passage above the 3000 mark was short-lived, however. It was only crossed for a few seconds, when the value of Apple’s stock hit $ 182.19. She has since passed under this bar; As of this writing, Apple stock is now worth $ 182.01. But it is probably only a matter of time before the firm settles down permanently in its new kingdom.
And the least we can say is that there are very few suitors likely to join him there in the near future. At present, only five other companies have passed the famous “trillion” mark in the short scale used by the United States. Microsoft, only other company to have exceeded 2.5 trillion, settles firmly in 2nd position. It is closely followed by the essential Alphabet, parent company of Google, then by the oil conglomerate Saudi Aramco, Amazon, and finally Tesla.
A duel at the top between Tesla and Apple?
It is probably the latter who will put the next kick in this great anthill. This is also one of the objectives claimed by Elon Musk, who hopes to see his company take first place from Apple in the not so distant future. But to say the least, it won’t be a piece of cake toasting the courtesy to the Apple.
Indeed, the two companies operate according to diametrically opposed models. Elon Musk offers his brand with great blows of innovation in all directions, sometimes at the risk of doing too much. In essence, the billionaire likes to play big to win big; a philosophy that has largely smiled on him so far, but which continues to involve a certain number of risks.
In contrast, Apple has laid extremely solid foundations. Since the release of the original iPhone, and has continued to build on strictly identical foundations ever since. The brand is today so well established that it is almost part of “safe havens”, these assets considered as so stable that their value has almost no chance of regressing, like gold. Whether with his iPhones which continue to be a hit every year or with the exceptional margins generated by the App Store, the economic weather will probably remain bright for the Cupertino company.
Whether or not Tesla eventually overtakes Apple, Tim Cook and his troops can sleep soundly. As long as Apple’s brand image remains intact, its capital will likely continue to soar for many years to come, even in the absence of absolutely major innovation. It will nevertheless be interesting to observe which of these two philosophies will eventually prevail, unless an unexpected troublemaker comes to play the troublemaker along the way.
