Apple is worth 20 per cent of India’s GDP

San Francisco: Apple has set a record on Wall Street: It’s the first US company to be worth more than $700 billion based on the value of its stock at the close of trading Tuesday. That’s almost twice the size of Switzerland’s economy or as big as the Netherland’s GDP. Apple shares rose almost two per cent on Tuesday, closing at $122.02, which gave the company a market value of more than $710 billion. Apple Inc., which has reported record sales and profit in recent quarters, has crossed the $700 billion line before in the course of daily trading. But Tuesday was the first time any US company finished the day above that line. It is almost twice the value of second largest Exxon Mobil Corp., which saw its shares fall by 0.6 per cent Tuesday and closed with a value of about $385 billion.

The market capitalisation of iPhone maker is 20 per cent of India’s GDP (in PPP terms) and it is 27 times bigger than Reliance Industries Limited. Only 23 countries in the world have economies, which are larger than Apple’s m-cap and the rest of 173 countries are worth less than this American company.

Apple’s shares rose after it said that it will spend nearly $850 million on a solar energy project that will generate enough power for the computer giant's new corporate headquarters, retail stores and other operations in California. The tech company will be the biggest single consumer of energy from the new solar facility. It is being constructed on 2,900 acres in rural Monterey County, south of the San Francisco Bay Area. Apple CEO Tim Cook, who announced the project at an investment conference in San Francisco, Apple said that it is concerned about climate change.