iDevices have helped Apple become the most valuable company in the US, and soon its market capitalization could exceed the combined value of all public companies in Greece, Spain and Portugal. Those from Bloomberg I claim that more than 500 public companies are located in these countries and their total value of their stock market capitalization would be 590 billion dollars, only 7 billion more than that of Apple. In 2007, all these companies were worth over 1.6 billion dollars and Apple only 165 billion, but the European crisis led to a decrease of over 1 billion in the value of all companies.
The CHART OF THE DAY shows the equity capitalization of Cupertino, California-based Apple, the world's most valuable company, and that of the three European countries at the center of Europe's sovereign-debt crisis, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The total market value of the nations' public companies in November 2007 was 11 times that of Apple's before $1 trillion was wiped off their shares. "This shows the difference between the dark macro challenges and the bright corporate fundamentals, and highlights the change in dynamics that has taken place in the past couple of years," said Henk Potts, an equity strategist at Barclays Wealth in London, which oversees $239 billion, in an interview.
Although Apple seems to be more popular than ever, we must not forget that we are talking about abstract values that change from one minute to the next and the real value of a company is much lower than the one listed on the stock exchange.
