

Apple briefly passes Exxon as No. 1 market cap - micrypt
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-briefly-passes-exxon-as-no-1-market-cap-2011-08-09

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ghshephard
Some enterprising financial writer should take this opportunity to identify
what the most valuable company currently listed on the exchanges= is, taking
into account dividends payed out to their investors (which typically reduce
the value of the stock by the amount of the dividend)

It's not Microsoft:
[http://breakoutperformance.blogspot.com/2010/08/microsoft-
sh...](http://breakoutperformance.blogspot.com/2010/08/microsoft-should-raise-
its-dividend.html)

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padmanabhan01
Bravo for Apple. iPod, iPhone, iPad, Air... has been a truly amazing decade!

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erickhill
When Apple has a mishap (e.g. "antennae gate") it really doesn't hurt anyone
in the long run.

When Exxon has a mishap (e.g. the Valdez in 1989 and ensuing punitive damages
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill>), where in turn "J.P.
Morgan created the first modern credit default swap in 1994, so that Morgan's
would not have to hold as much money in reserve (8% of the loan under Basel I)
against the risk of Exxon's default."

In a weird way, Exxon triggered the beginning of the madness.

That all being said, Lion's new "natural gestures" could come back to haunt us
all in about 10 years.

EDIT: To be fair, Apple didn't have to do anything. Over the past 2 weeks,
Exxon has lost around 17%. They've simply passed Apple on the way down.

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iqster
Just a correction: Morgan Stanley invented the CDS. J.P. Morgan came later.

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bdr
Is anyone surprised? Will you be surprised when Amazon is bigger than Walmart?

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Hyena
I will be. Wal-Mart's revenues are $421 billion a year. Amazon.com is $34
billion. They also have fundamentally different core businesses: Amazon's core
is easily delivered items which are often difficult to find in stores, Wal-
Mart's core is easy-to-find items for which delivery service poses problems.

If Amazon gets bigger than Wal-Mart, it will be because the market in easy
deliverables becomes very large but the capabilities of general search
companies fail to keep pace. Otherwise, Amazon continues its conversion to a
data center and payment processing company.

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r00fus
Looks like it'll end the day still having more cap than XOM.

I don't know if it will stick but this is phenomenal for what is, essentially,
the quintessential silicon valley startup.

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espressodude
Does anyone remember this?

"What I can’t figure out is why he is even trying? He knows he can’t win." –
Bill Gates, referring to Steve Jobs returning as CEO of Apple, in 1998.

