Apple set a record by becoming the first company to be valued at $700 billion (£466 bn). The iPhone maker was already the world’s most valuable business, but in early trading its shares rose by 1% to $119.75, giving it a capitalisation of $701.7bn. this is higher than the GDP of all the top 19 countries in the world.
Apple’s shares have risen around 60% this year, with the success of its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus one of the main reasons behind the surge. The company announced last month that it had sold 39.3m iPhones in its third quarter, and predicted that its latest product would help boost its sales by at least 10% over the forthcoming holiday period.
Tim Cook said at the results presentation that demand for the new phones had been staggering. He said: “ At this point we are selling everything we’ve made” and added that 2014 was “one for the record books”.
Apple has been vying with the oil company Exxon Mobil for the accolade of the world’s largest company for a number of years, first overtaking its rival in 2011 before back due to fears that its future products won’t live up to expectations.
It regained the top spot in August 2013 after Exxon suffered a falling in Oil prices and weak earnings. Exxon is now worth around $405 bn, while Apple’s tech rivals Microsoft and Google are valued at $392bn and $368 bn respectively.
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