Apple on Wednesday became the first publicly traded American company to be valued at $2 trillion.
This financial feat is a major milestone that highlights the ability of the company to thrive after the death of its founder, Steve Jobs.
Although Jobs was considered a visionary, Apple’s current CEO, Tim Cook, who succeeded him, has managed to increase the value of the company beyond the imagination of many.
The company crossed the $2 trillion dollar mark on Wednesday after being the first in the world to cross the $1 trillion mark in August 2018.
This makes the iPhone, Mac computers and Apple wristwatch makers the most valuable company in the world.
This feat also means that the company’s net worth is higher than the entire Gross Domestic Product of the entire 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria and South Africa — the largest economies on the continent.
World Bank data revealed that the GDP of the entire sub-Saharan African region was $1.75 trillion at the end of 2019.
Apple is not the first company in the world to cross the $2 trillion dollar mark as government-owned Saudi Aramco hit the milestone in December 2019.
But the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and low oil prices have impacted the company’s value.
After suffering stock value decline at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Apple shares are currently trading at $467.78 per share.
The company is planning a four-for-one split at the end of August to make the shares affordable for investors.
This split will not affect the company’s value as it would now have more shares trading at a lower price.
Amazon and Mircosoft are also inching close to the $2 trillion mark and Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is now worth more than $1 trillion.