Apple is now the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, passing Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco. As of close of business Friday, Apple has a market valuation of $1.84 trillion, while Saudi Aramco’s is $1.76 trillion, according to CNBC. Apple’s stock, which has been on a largely-steady climb since the end of March, closed up more than 10 percent on Friday following the company’s record-breaking third-quarter earnings on Thursday, ending the day at $425.04.
Apple’s total revenue for Q3 hit $59.7 billion, up 11 percent from last year. Strong Mac and iPad sales were a highlight, and the company likely saw increased demand for the devices while people have been sheltering in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Apple also announced a four-for-one stock split as part of its third quarter earnings, which will lower the price of an individual stock.
Amazon, Facebook, and Google all announced earnings yesterday as well, and for the most part, they had pretty good quarters. Amazon doubled its profit — during a pandemic. Facebook saw a daily user increase of 12 percent year over year to 1.79 billion. And combined, the four companies netted $28.6 billion in profits. As my colleague Liz Lopatto put it, during the pandemic, the tech companies are raking it in.