The Most Valuable Public Companies

Today marks 50 years since Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne founded Apple with $1,300 in start-up capital. Today, the iPhone manufacturer is the second most valuable company in the world, with a market capitalization of more than $3.7 trillion, according to recent data from CompaniesMarketCap.

Apple first became the world's most valuable company by market capitalization in 2011, when its market cap was under $340 billion. Since then, the company has for the most part consistently held the top spot, but the AI boom has now produced a new leader: US chip manufacturer Nvidia. Founded 17 years after Apple, the company currently boasts a market capitalization of over four trillion US dollars. The top five is rounded out by three more US tech giants: Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon.

In its 50 years of existence, Apple has hit many notable milestones in terms of market capitalization: in August 2018, it became the first ever company to reach a market cap of $1 trillion, followed by $3 trillion in 2023, and $3.5 trillion in 2024.