Apple made global business history on Thursday. It is the first company in the U.S. to ever reach a $1 trillion market cap.
Following its stock price hitting $207.05 per share, Apple claimed the title.
The milestone should be recognized as a remarkable feat considering what it took to get here. Apple wasn’t a tiny startup bankrolled by wealthy investors. It exploded in popularity during the mid-to-late 1980s before falling out of profitability in the 1990s. But the company remained intact and restructured itself.
In the late 1990s, Steve Jobs rejoined the company and brought in talent that developed products like the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. All three have been the most popular products in their categories. Since then, we’ve seen Apple dive further into areas like music streaming, education, and wearables.
With Tim Cook at the helm for the last seven years, Apple has maintained its dominance. The company announced it generated $53.3 billion in revenue during the most recent fiscal quarter.
The race to $1 trillion was down to Apple and Amazon. Both have experienced a surge in their stock prices over the last two years. As for the e-commerce company, its market cap stands at about $875 billion but could touch Apple’s milestone in the near future. It would make Amazon the second company to ever touch $1 billion despite other companies having much longer histories.
Apple is preparing to announce new hardware this fall. The new iPhone models are locked in, but we could also see the iPad Pro, as well as the Mac family, get refreshed. After those products are on sale, Apple should be due for another big jump in revenue.
Congratulations to Apple and everyone on its team. Here’s to another trillion (if that’s even possible).
Correction: A previous version of this report named Apple as the first trillion dollar company in the world. That title actually goes to PetroChina Co. in China that did so briefly in 2007.
