Apple Is Now Worth $756 Billion, Bigger Than Many European Countries Combined

With a mind-blowing $ 756 Billion in market value, Apple is now poised to become the first

Trillion dollar company in recent history according to an article published by the Wall Street Journal.

Apple is now so huge that it is already double the size of oil behemoth Exxon, second biggest publicly traded company in the U.S. with $ 374 Billion in market capitalization.

For proper perspective, here a few comparisons to better visualize $ 756 Billion:

* It is the equivalent of the nominal GDPs (2012) of 9 European countries namely: Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Belarus, Croatia, Luxembourg, Bulgaria and Slovenia combined according to data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

* Bigger than the enacted 2014 U.S. Federal  Defense budget ($ 620.5 Billion)

* It is more than three times the enterprise value of Facebook, the world's largest social network as of February 24, 2015 trading day.

Apple's iPhone 6 & iPhone 6 plus sales propelled the company to record profits in 2014.
image credit: Smiba - wikimedia commons

As the company prepares to launch new products this year, market watchers expect Apple to continue to grow even more after posting the highest ever profits by a public company in history ($18 Billion). The company's record earning were attributed to robust iPhone sales in the USA and China. 

Apple also captured the 2015 World's Most Valuable Brand title given out by global consulting firm Brand Finance.

Interestingly, according to a report by Yahoo! Finance, Apple's size is quite modest compared to several global companies at their peak, including defunct firms such as the famous (infamous, depending which side you're on) Dutch East India Company from way back (about 400 years ago during the tulip mania before the bubble burst) if we make adjustments for inflation and today's currency equivalent.

Flag of the Dutch India Company
image credit: wikimedia commons

The same Yahoo! Finance report estimated that the Dutch East India Company was worth at least $ 7 Trillion (adjusted for inflation and currency exchange 2012 levels) before the entire tulip bonanza collapsed.

It goes to show that even the big ones bit the dust eventually.