Apple Loses to Exxon
Does this surprise anyone but me? Honestly, I had never given much thought to Exxon Mobil being the most valuable publicly traded company in the world. To listen to the fuel industry as a whole, you would wonder how they could possibly stay in business if they are all losing money hand over fist as reported in the media.
However, History shows a different story. Back in August 2011, Apple briefly took the title from Exxon Mobil. Exxon quickly rebounded and gained the top spot and has held on to it since.
Until January 2012 when Apple’s market cap blew past that of Exxon again but this time Apple’s stock price soared. With a large push for the back to school business, Apple’s market share topped more than $650 billion, which exceeds the market value of Exxon by more than $200 billion dollars! Yes, BILLION DOLLARS…. that is just impressive to say!
Things changed again in September when Apple’s stock prices started falling. Since then, other than a slight increase around the holidays, stock value has dropped 40 percent. In dollars, this means Apple has dropped more than $250 billion!
Yesterday, Apple stock reached a 12-month low when it closed at $420.05. This drop placed Exxon back on top for the title of most valuable company in the world. According to most media outlets, Exxon looks to keep the title for a long time.
Today’s chart from Statista compares the value of Apple and Exxon from 2012 and 2013.
What I find interesting, isn’t the sudden rise and fall of Apple, but the fairly consistent stock value of Exxon Mobile. Perhaps they should be studied for a working business plan that stands strong when everything else is falling away.
It seems that Apple is struggling without Steve Jobs being at the helm. He was the driving force for new innovating ideas and products. I can see why Exxon is Number 1 now because gas costs so much money. Exxon does not need to charge so much to make all these profits and they do not even pay government taxes. That is not right!