Enlarge image
Apple logo in front of a stock market chart (symbolic image): brilliant rise
Photo: Alexander Pohl / imago images / Alexander Pohl
Big, bigger, Apple: Apple was the first company in the world to reach a market value of more than three trillion dollars on Monday. The iPhone company took the first trillion mark in August 2018, the next two years later. Now, all of Apple's stock combined costs more than $ 3,000,000,000,000 - an unimaginable amount. Five graphics show how valuable the Silicon Valley company has become: Apple not only trumps its rivals Microsoft and Amazon, but also makes cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and even entire states look old.
To determine whether a stock is expensive, analysts usually relate a company's market value to expected earnings. The so-called price-earnings ratio (P / E) at Apple is currently over 30. The US company would have to bring in more than 30 annual profits to earn its own shares. Measured in terms of the P / E ratio, Apple shares are about twice as expensive as those of Deutsche Telekom. (You can read here why it makes more sense for most investors to diversify their risk than to buy individual stocks).
In order to better imagine the market value of Apple, it can also be compared with the economic performance of entire countries.
Measured in terms of gross domestic product - i.e. the value of all goods, goods and services that a country produces in one year - Apple even trumps Great Britain.
The US group ranks just behind Germany.
In other words: You would have to raise almost the entire economic output of the Federal Republic to buy up all Apple shares at the current price.
But, of course, this comparison lags enormously: Apple may have enormous resources and global influence, but it is not a nation.
And Germany is not a company, even if lateral thinkers keep wrongly claiming that.
It seems more sensible to put the Apple share in comparison to other investments. On the stock exchange, Apple is in a neck-and-neck race with rival Microsoft. The largest European software group SAP, which employs around 100,000 people, on the other hand, almost looks like a stock market lightweight.
Crash prophets, who warn of a financial bubble, often mention the dizzying reviews of tech companies and cryptocurrencies in the same breath. So it makes sense to compare Apple's market capitalization with that of Bitcoin and Co. And although the Bitcoin price has risen massively in recent years, Apple also wins this race. The second largest cryptocurrency, ether, ranks far behind. In all cases, the following applies: The market capitalization is a theoretical value that is calculated from the current price. Because if all investors try to sell their investment on the stock exchange, the price falls - provided that new buyers can be found at all.
Still struggling to imagine three trillion?
Then maybe like this: If you tossed all the dollar bills in the world into one heap, that would still not be enough to buy up all of the Apple shares.
All euro banknotes and coins in circulation would also not be sufficient (this does not include the so-called book money created by banks).
To put it bluntly: Apple beats Cash.
Certainly: that is also a bold comparison, but perhaps it is not as absurd as it seems at first glance.
Because many economists see a direct connection between the ultra-loose monetary policy of the central banks and the development of stock exchange prices.
Of course, you could buy other things instead of Apple shares - and there was a whole lot of them.
Apple's market capitalization not only exceeds the American defense budget, but also the annual budget of the European Union.
And the United Nations has to get by on a much, much smaller budget of around three billion dollars.
What can be seen as a cynical sign of the importance iPhones have compared to international understanding.
