With $2 trillion market cap, Apple tops GDP of Brazil, Australia, Canada and more

We are talking big money, seriously big—$2 trillion. iPhone maker Apple Inc on August 19 became the first US publicly listed company with a stock market value of $2 trillion, doubling its valuation in just over two years.

The company’s value is more than of the GDP of countries including Brazil, Australia, Canada, Russia, South Korea, Spain and Mexico, data collated from Trading Economics shows. These countries have a GDP of over $1 trillion each.

The list of GDP of more than $2 trillion is led by the US ($21 trillion). The European Union comes second with $19 trillion, China ($14 trillion), Euro Area ($13 trillion), Japan ($5 trillion), Germany ($5 trillion), and India (nearly $3 trillion).

Shares of Cupertino, California-based Apple have already climbed nearly 60 percent this year. The company, founded in 9176, now accounts for close to 7 percent of the S&P 500’s total market value.

Its market capitalisation is about to touch the combined values of the S&P 500’s 200 smallest companies, Reuters reported.

Apple went public on December 12, 1980. It took 40 years to hit its first $1 trillion in market cap and the stock has split four times since then.

Apple wants its products to be more affordable and that is something we have seen in the prices of the newly launched phones as well. But, it also wants more investors to own a part of the company and is considering a stock split towards the close of the month.

The iPhone maker is slated to split its stock four-for-one when trading opens on August 31, with the company saying it aims to make its shares more accessible to individual investors, a Reuters report said.

Microsoft and Amazon follow Apple as the most valuable publicly traded US companies, each at about $1.6 trillion. They are followed by Google-owner Alphabet, at just over $1 trillion, data showed.

Apple’s shares have surged since blowout quarterly results in July that saw the iPhone maker eclipse Saudi Aramco as the world’s most valuable listed company.

The rally reflects growing investor confidence in Apple’s shift toward relying less on sales of iPhones and more on services for its users, including video, music, and games.

(With Reuters inputs)