Apple Becomes First Company To Be Worth $3 Trillion; Here's How That Compares To Other Giants

Technology giant Apple has begun the new year on a very high note, becoming the first company in human history to reach $3 trillion in value based on its share price.

The stock market opened for the first time in 2022 today, January 3, and Apple's share price surpassed $182. There are about 16.4 billion outstanding Apple shares, giving Apple a total market capitalization of over $3,000,000,000,000.

Apple reached a $1 trillion valuation in 2018 before that rose to $2 trillion in 2020. At $3 trillion, Apple itself is worth more than the GDP of entire countries such as France, India, and the UK.

Apple was on the verge of bankruptcy in the late '90s. The company's fortunes changed after Microsoft invested $150 million into Apple and the late CEO Steve Jobs made various changes to turn things around. Apple launched the iPhone in 2007, and the company has only grown since.

Other companies in the technology space to surpass $1 trillion in valuation include Microsoft, Tesla, Amazon, and Alphabet.

The stock market is always changing, and it is only one measure of a company's financial success. Shortly after surpassing $3 trillion today, Apple's share price dropped, pushing the company's market cap down to $2.99 trillion.

For comparison, some of the most valuable US gaming companies by stock price include Activision Blizzard ($52.27 billion), EA ($38.1 billion), and GameStop ($11.76 billion). Microsoft, which has many businesses, has a total valuation of $2.5 trillion, while Alphabet is worth $1.927 trillion. Tesla carries a valuation of $1.19 trillion. All of these numbers are accurate as of January 3.

In terms of how much money Apple actually has in the bank, the company's latest earnings released showed that Apple had $34.9 billion in cash and cash equivalents on hand.

Outside of the iPhone and Mac laptops and computers, Apple operates the Apple Arcade subscription service for games and Apple Music for music. Beyond that, Apple has a film and TV division called Apple Studios that counts titles like Ted Lasso and The Morning Show as some of its most celebrated programs. One of its most ambitious and expensive upcoming projects is the movie Killers of the Flower Moon from director Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.