Apple has now surpassed technology goliath Microsoft in value, the product innovation gurus landed a market value of $222.07bn, a mere $3bn above Microsoft. The news comes after the stock market closed with Apple shares down 0.45% but Microsoft down by 4.07%.
The only company bigger than the California-based tech giant was oil giants ExxonMobil with a $278.64bn market value. A share in Apple is now worth 10 times what it was a decade ago, just a year before new boss Steve Jobs launched a series of revolutionary products including the most iconic product of the 21st century, the iPod.
However, this is not the first time Apple been worth more than Microsoft, in December 1989 they briefly overtook them. The company whose operating system runs on more than 90% of the world’s computers has never been able to match the growth rates it experienced in the 1990s. Contrary to Apple, Microsoft stock has decreased by 20% in ten years.
If all else fails for Microsoft they still have their finger in the ‘Apple’ pie as in 1997 they invested $150m into Apple to keep them afloat, at the time Gates’ company was worth five times that of Jobs. Despite the recent valuation, Microsoft still beat Apple on sales, in the last quarter, Microsoft reported $14.5bn revenue compared to Apple’s $13.5bn. Apple only recently surpassed Walmart in market value to become the 3rd largest company in the world.
The position just below an Oil giant, an industry that has all but ruled the world for the last half century shows a fundamental change in society. Consumer electronics, software and technology are almost more valuable than the fuel that arguably runs the human race.
It will be interesting to watch the trends in the next decade to see how things pan out, some companies are reaching unprecedented value with little or no physical output, Google for example, is one of the most powerful companies in the world, not just because of their net worth, but their undeniable control over the internet and potential to do so much more. Facebook has been about only 6 years, its founder and CEO is barely out of University yet his company now has an estimated value of $20bn. Perhaps the number one company in 10 years time has not even been founded yet.
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