Apple just became the first publicly traded U.S. company to be valued at a whopping $3 trillion. AAPL stock topped out at $182.88 a share Monday before dropping slightly, bringing the market cap back below the $3 trillion milestone.

It closed at $182.01, leaving Apple’s market cap at an astonishing $2.99 trillion. But it continued to climb once again in after-hours trading.

Competition for highly skilled engineers and programmers is fierce in Silicon Valley, and Apple’s answer is big bonuses for employees it really wants to hold on to. It reportedly rewarded some workers with up to $180,000 in company stock.

These were apparently unscheduled and not part of usual compensation packages.

A sharp rise in Apple’s share price allowed the Mac-maker to regain the title of publicly traded company with the highest market capitalization n the world. It beat out Microsoft, who’d held the top spot for less than a month.

An unconfirmed report of Apple’s aggressive plans to make self-driving cars helped drive a 6% increase over the past week.

September 17, 2012: On the back of record iPhone 5 preorders of 2 million in 24 hours, Apple’s stock price hits a new all-time high. For the first time in history, AAPL breaks the $700 mark in after-hours trading. Passing the milestone cements Cupertino’s place as the world’s most valuable publicly traded company.

Amazingly, the new record is $270 a share higher than Apple at the start of the year. The stock rose 65% in just nine months.

August 29, 2001: During a meeting, Apple’s board of directors awards Steve Jobs new stock options that will become part of a stock-backdating scandal several years later.

When the matter eventually ends up in court, Apple’s former general counsel pays $2.2 million to settle charges that she backdated stock options for Jobs, herself and others — and created fake paperwork to hide this fact.

Apple CEO Tim Cook is one of the best paid U.S. executives according to a new report. He pulled in a whopping $265 million in 2020 from his salary, bonus, and stock awards.

But that’s chump change compared to what Elon Musk made.

This week on The CultCast: Next-gen AirPods might bring massive changes — we’ll tell you what we know!Plus: The original HomePod remains absolutely outstanding, but the new Intercom feature needs work. And we’ve got another update on Erfon’s $100,000 AAPL stock investment!

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This week on The CultCast: Don’t miss our one-week reviews of Apple Watch Series 6! We’ll tell you if it’s worth upgrading. Plus: Multiple sources are now confirming a second Apple hardware event coming October 13, where a new “iPhone 12 mini” may be announced — we’ll tell you what we know. And stick around for more Apple stock talk! Erfon reveals what his big investment is worth now, following this month’s depressing AAPL stock plummet, and we’re talking real numbers.

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This week on The CultCast: New Apple hardware is incoming, and thanks to a reliable leaker, we might know the release dates for iPhone 12, Apple Watch Series 6 and more. We’ll tell you what to expect. Plus, it’s Apple stock adventure, part 2! I talk about my massive Apple stock purchase, including how much I spent, why I’m buying in now, and how much my investment is now worth. We talk real numbers!

And if you’ve been thinking about getting a new Mac with the butterfly keyboard, don’t do it until you hear this episode, cause with COVID-19 shutdowns, keyboard repairs are now a total nightmare.

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