Trillion Dollar Market Cap

August 6, 2018 In Investing By SJK

Trillion Dollar Market Cap

As I write this piece, I am watching CNBC display a Market Cap counter for Apple.  Today, August 2nd 2018. the company is within a billion dollars to reaching a value of one trillion.  In fact, it might get there before I finish typing.  That’s, $1,000,000,000,000 – a lot of zeros!  It is an amazing accomplishment and the first company in history to reach this level.  We have been watching many companies in the last few years in the race to one trillion dollars.

 

  • Amazon current Market Cap = $894,270,000,000
  • Alphabet (Google) current Market Cap = $867,930,000,000
  • Microsoft current Market Cap = $840,460,000,000

 

While Apple looks like they will be the first, with all these other companies nearing, I am wondering if one trillion dollars will become a new normal in the future.  So, I did some research and discovered that maybe this is not as big of an accomplishment as it seems.  I looked at the peak values of some other major companies in the past and adjusted them for inflation to compare apples to apples – great use of that expression.

 

 

In 1637, the first company to publicly trade stock, Dutch East India Company, reached a market cap of an astounding $7.9 Trillion when adjusted for inflation.  Others included Mississippi Company at $6.5 Trillion in 1720, $4.3 Trillion in 1720 for South Sea Company, more recently $4.1 Trillion for Saudi Aramco in 2010, and $1.4 Trillion for Petrochina in 2007.

Source: The Motley Fool

 

 

So maybe one trillion dollars in real terms is small compared to others of the past.  Either way it is still impressive.  I believe in the future one trillion dollars will not be as impressive as other companies may join Apple and inflation will continue to drive the value of a dollar lower making one trillion dollars easier to obtain.  That being said it, is still quite a milestone and a proud moment for the American economy.

 

Written by: Christopher Tuck

 

 

 

Content in this material is for general information only and not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.  This is not an endorsement for any company mentioned.