Apple No Longer The Most Valuable Company In World

Apple is no longer the most valuable company in the world after a decline in share price knocked it off the top spot.

It was back in early January this tear when Apple’s share price hit a record high of $182.88, briefly lifting its market value above $3 billion, the first US company to reach that milestone.

At the time Saudi Aramco was valued at $1.9 trillion.

Market value

Apple had been on a upward trajectory for a number of years now.

It became the first publicly listed US company worth $1 trillion (£770bn) back in August 2018.

Then in August 2020, as the Coronavirus pandemic was engulfing the world, Apple reached the $2 trillion valuation, passing Saudi Aramco to become the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, before powering on and breaching $3 trillion in January 2022.

The company enjoyed its value and management used its wealth to recently pay selected engineers up to $50,000 to as much as $180,000.

That huge huge bonus was in order to retain their services and stop their defection to Meta Platforms (Facebook) and others.

And CEO Tim Cook also saw his pay in 2021 rise to $100 million (£74m).

But on Wednesday 11 May 2022, Apple was knocked off its top spot as the world’s most value company, reflecting the more troubled times we are now experiencing.

Troubled times

Saudi Arabia’s national oil company, Saudi Aramco, surpassed the iPhone maker as the world’s most valuable firm.

Aramco’s market valuation was just under $2.43 trillion on Wednesday.

Apple, which fell more than 5 percent during trading in the US on Wednesday, is now worth $2.37 trillion.

The switch reflects the fact that investors have become increasingly concerned about a deteriorating economic environment amid the Ukraine war, which has depressed interest in a number of industries, including technology.

Matters were not helped last month when Apple issued a gloomy outlook, warning that sales could be dented by as much as $8 billion in the current quarter due to supply chain problems.

Overall, Apple’s share price has fallen nearly 20 percent since its $182.94 peak on 4 January.

Meanwhile the reserve is true for oil companies, as investors flock to energy companies in these troubled times.

Aramco stock is up over 27 percent so far in 2022. In March, the oil giant reported that its full-year profit last year more than doubled due to soaring oil prices.