Apple is now the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, beating out Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco. At the close of business on Friday, Apple has a market valuation of $ 1.84 trillion, while Saudi Aramco is $ 1.76 trillion, according to CNBC. Apple shares, which have been on a pretty steady rise since the end of March, closed more than 10 percent on Friday after the company’s record third-quarter earnings on Thursday, ending the day at $ 425.04.
Total third-quarter revenue for Apple reached $ 59.7 billion, 11 percent more than last year. Strong Mac and iPad sales were the highlight, and the company likely experienced increased demand for the devices, while people have fled in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Apple also announced a four-for-one stock split as part of its third-quarter earnings, which will lower the price of an individual share.
Amazon, Facebook and Google announced earnings yesterday as well, and for the most part, they had a pretty good quarter. Amazon doubled its profits, during a pandemic. Facebook experienced a daily increase in users from 12 percent year-over-year to 1.79 billion. And combined, the four companies made $ 28.6 billion in profit. As my colleague Liz Lopatto put it, during the pandemic, technology companies are registering it.
