Apple set a record by becoming the first company to be valued at $700bn. The iPhone maker was already the world’s most valuable business, but in early trading its shares rose nearly 1% to $119.75, giving it a market capitalisation of $701.7bn. This is higher than the GDP of all but the top 19 countries in the world.
Apple’s shares have risen around 60% this year, with the success of its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus one of the main reasons behind the surge. Last month it announced that it had sold a record 39.3m iPhones in its third quarter, and predicted that its latest products would help it boost sales by at least 10% over the forthcoming holiday period. It expects to sell more in the Christmas quarter this year than it did in the whole of 2010.
- CEO Tim Cook said Apple was ‘hitting its stride
- Shares rose 1.9% to close at $122.02 lifting Apple’s market value to $710bn
- Company investing $850 million to help build a solar farm in California
- Microsoft was the first company to close with a $600bn valuation in 2000
