Apple officially becomes world’s first $3 trillion company

Iphone maker Apple has become the first publicly-traded company to close a trading day with a $3 trillion market value.

– Key points to note

Apple’s shares climbed about 2.3% to close at $193.97 a share on Friday, pushing its market value to $3.05 trillion.

The company is now nearly $500 billion more valuable than the next-largest company, Microsoft ($2.5 trillion), Saudi Aramco ($2.1 trillion), Alphabet ($1.5 trillion), Amazon ($1.3 trillion) and Nvidia ($1 trillion).

The market capitalization also makes Apple worth more than the gross domestic product (GDP) of four of the world’s 10 biggest economies: France, Russia, Canada and Italy.

The rise comes as investors in the firm look ahead to the release iPhone 15 and the Vision Pro mixed-reality headset.

Apple previously became the first company in history to hit the $3 trillion mark in intraday trading on Jan. 3, 2022, but failed to close at that level.

– Learn more

Apple was the first company to cross $1 trillion in market capitalization in August 2018. Two years later, it became the first company to pass the $2 trillion mark.

The has continued to grow thanks to its huge sales and profits. It recorded $394 billion in sales and $100 billion in profit during its most recent fiscal year, making it the second-most profitable company in the world, only behind Saudi Aramco.

Apple is poised to rise further and could be worth $4 trillion by 2025, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a Wednesday note to clients.

Ives said the company’s $3,499 headset set to release next year “is the first step in a broader strategy for Apple to build out a generative AI driven app ecosystem for its golden customer base.”