It took Apple 43 years to reach $ 1 trillion, but only 2 years to reach $ 2 trillion

It took Apple 43 years to reach the milestone of $ 1 trillion in market capitalization. But it only took two years to double that number to $ 2 trillion. More amazingly, more impressively, that is the 2 trillion USD milestone achieved in the global economic downturn due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

On Wednesday, Apple became the first US company to reach a market capitalization of $ 2 trillion, after shares rose 1.4% to $ 468.65. It was a major milestone for the iPhone maker, cementing its title as the world’s most valuable company, and showing that the Covid-19 pandemic was unlikely to stop the growth of public giants. turmeric.

Apple market capitalization with 1 trillion USD and 2 trillion USD milestones.

As recently as March, Apple’s market cap fell below $ 1 trillion, after the stock market plunged over concerns about the Covid-19 epidemic. But then, the share prices of tech giants Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Google and Facebook have steadily surged.

Investors have poured billions of dollars into these tech giants, betting that the tech companies’ immense power will serve as a refuge in the Great Depression caused by the Covid-19 epidemic. cause.

Together, the value of the five tech giants has increased by nearly $ 3 trillion since March 23. That’s equal to the growth of 50 companies in the top S&P 500 combined, which includes billionaire Warrent Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, Walmart and Disney. Apple alone, its market capitalization has grown by about $ 6.8 billion per day, more than the value of national airline American Airlines.

Apple continuously breaks record milestones.

“These companies have become the safest flights , “ said Aswath Damodaran, a professor of finance at New York University who studies the stock market . The epidemic crisis further strengthened the power of the technological Goliaths.

The fact that Apple has so rapidly increased to $ 2 trillion is especially staggering, as the iPhone maker hasn’t done much new in the past two years. Apple has simply built a complete ecosystem, embracing the way people communicate, entertain, and shop. To the point where Apple no longer needs to rely on breakthrough innovations to keep its business afloat.

Apple $ 2 trillion under CEO Tim Cook

Apple was worth $ 1 trillion for the first time in August 2018, after decades of innovation. The company founded by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in 1976, has created many world-changing products such as the Macintosh computer, iPod, App Store, and iPhone.

Since then, Apple has mainly edited and refined past breakthroughs, selling them under new names like the Apple Watch Series 5, AirPods Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max. Apple also focuses more on services and software, selling subscriptions to Apple Music, or charging fees from iOS app developers.

CEO Tim Cook at the iPhone 11 launch event.

Under CEO Tim Cook, Apple’s most breakthrough invention was the ability to make a profit despite all the difficult circumstances. Tim Cook has built an incredibly complex global supply chain to maximize profits, focusing on one product line to keep customers in its ecosystem, so they keep buying new devices. Every few years, purchase new accessories and pay for Apple services.

From April to June 2020, even with many Apple Stores closed, the profit still reached $ 11.25 billion and grew 12% year-on-year.

Luca Maestri, Apple’s chief financial officer, said in an interview last month: “Our products and services are well-suited to the everyday life of our users. In some cases, it proved even more effective during a pandemic. But Maestri also insisted that the Covid-19 epidemic was beneficial for Apple, he said, without it, that Apple could make billions more in profits.

The power of the 5 tech giants is even more solid

Besides Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook and Alphabet also raked in billions of dollars amid pandemic and economic recession. The overwhelming influence these tech companies have had for years has put the government under intense control over the past several years, even having a hearing on the top four tech CEOs in Congress last month.

David Cicilline, a Democrat and chairman of the House of Representatives subcommittee investigating how the tech giants think these companies are thriving. “These companies have the ability to put in place dictatorial policies, to punish them and scare other companies,” said Cicilline.

The five tech giants possessed too much power.

Last week, the incident between Apple and Epic Games showed the power of the App Store. Apple takes advantage of the exclusive app store and ecosystem on iPhone and iPad devices to charge 30% of all payments through the developer’s app. When Epic Games introduced its own form of payment in the Fortnite game, it was immediately removed from the App Store by Apple and threatened to punish more strongly.

Once the power of these five tech companies becomes too great, the entire world economy will depend on it. We can see a lot of small technology companies, a lot of suppliers are dependent on Apple, without Apple is dead. Or like many advertising and publishing companies are dependent on Facebook. That could threaten the development of the world economy fairly and equally.

Reference: nytimes