Apple Becomes First US Company To Close Above $700 Billion In Value

By George Stahl 

Apple Inc. shares closed Tuesday at $122.02, giving the maker of iPhones and iPads a market value of more than $700 billion--the first U.S. company to close above that mark.

The Cupertino, Calif., company had crossed the $700 billion mark in November and last week but had not closed at that level. Tuesday's close valued Apple at $710.7 billion.

Market value is a commonly used term among investors to measure how much a company is worth. It is determined by multiplying the company's shares outstanding by its stock price. Apple's market value--or market capitalization, as it is also known as--is based on the company's 5.82 billion shares outstanding.

Apple's market value is nearly double each of the next three largest companies on the S&P 500 index. Exxon Mobil Corp. is second to Apple with a market cap of about $385 billion; Berkshire Hathaway Inc., with its two classes of stock, is third at $370 billion; and Microsoft Corp. is fourth at $349 billion, according to FactSet.

Apple's mark comes nearly two weeks after the company reported earnings of $18 billion on revenue of $74.6 billion during the holiday quarter. It also comes more than eight years after former Chief Executive Steve Jobs first showed off the iPhone in January 2007. At that time, Apple had a market value of $76 billion.

Write to George Stahl at [e-mail]

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