Photo illustration: Ste Smith/Cult of Mac
March 12, 2010: Apple passes Walmart and investment firm Berkshire Hathaway in value to take third place in market capitalization among publicly listed U.S. companies. The Apple market cap soars past $200 billion, fueled by intense excitement over the first-generation iPad.
Things look good for the company as it guns for powerhouses ExxonMobil and Microsoft.
Apple’s climb to the top of the stock market
At the time, AAPL was trading at $226 per share. Today, it trades higher than $172, but bear in mind that a seven-to-one stock split took place in 2014 after AAPL peaked at $645. If that split hadn’t happened, Apple would now be trading at a much higher price.
Back in 2010, it didn’t take Apple long to catch up to market leaders ExxonMobil and Microsoft after passing Walmart. In May 2010, Apple overtook Microsoft, surpassing the tech giant that dominated Cupertino during the previous decade. A little over a year after that, on August 9, 2011, Apple blew past oil giant ExxonMobil to become the world’s most valuable company.
In all, it was an astonishing turnaround for a company that came perilously close to going out of business during the 1990s.
Apple market cap heads for $1 trillion
Today, Apple has long since passed its $200 billion valuation. It went on to become the first company in history to reach the $700 billion, the $800 billion and the $900 billion marks. That was all en route to the $3 trillion mark, which Apple achieved on January 3, 2022. (That peak didn’t last: Today, Apple’s market cap sits at $2.66 trillion.)
Did you follow Apple during its climb to the top of the stock market? Did you possess the foresight to invest before the Apple market cap shot sky-high? Let us know in the comments below.