Apple is no longer the world’s most valuable public company after it was overtaken by Saudi oil company Aramco. Apple’s share price has dropped 17% since it peaked in early September.
Having passed the $2 trillion market cap milestone last month, Apple has now dropped to $1.915 trillion. Apple and Aramco are the only two companies in the world to to have achieved valuations of $2 trillion.
“Aramco’s share price has been resilient partly because of its pledge to pay a $75 billion dividend this year. That would be more than five times what Apple’s paid out to shareholders in the past four quarters.”
This is not the first time Aramco has overtaken Apple in valuation. The company went public in December 2019, immediately eclipsing Apple with its market cap. Aramco is Saudi Arabia’s only oil company, previously owned entirely by the government and the royal family.
Despite some headlines at the time that suggested Apple was the world’s first $2 trillion company, Aramco actually holds that record — having risen to that landmark on only its second ever day of trading.
When will Apple return to $2 trillion? That remains to be seen. However, history has shown that it’s foolish to count Apple out. Apple has added $1 trillion to its value in just the past couple of years alone. Its stock split 4-to-1 last month. Based on Apple’s previous two stock splits, shares could surge in the next year. With the iPhone 12 and plenty of other big products on the horizon, there’s plenty of reasons to get excited!
