Apple surpasses Exxon to become world's number one company

New York, Aug 11: In what can be called the ultimate rags-to-riches story, Apple Inc on Aug 10 surpassed Exxon Mobil Corp to become the world's most valubale company.

Exxon held the top spot since 2006.

With a market capitalisation of $342 billion, compared to Exxon's $337 billion, Apple ended Aug 10 as the World's number one company. And the way it is shaping up, it may stay perched at the top for a considerable period of time unless of course something drastic happens.

What makes Apple's success even more creditworthy is the fact that it was revitalised with $150 million that was borrowed by its co-founder Steve Jobs from Bill Gates. Even more startling is the fact that it was started with borrowed money from an Intel executive by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.

After a few good years, the stocks started to tumble and once Steve Jobs left the board due to some differences, the nose dive became more steeper and faster. Until 14 years ago, the company was under an existential threat as its reputation was limited to being a personal computer manufacturer alone.

But then, Jobs came back and the rest is history.

The turnaround touched unprecedented highs when the company released the iPod in Oct 2001, which went to become the best-selling device until then. Then came the iTunes store - the online record collection - in 2003 that took the world of technology by storm and set Apple on its journey to the top.

There was no stopping for Apple, as it continued to innovate and in the process the world got some truly awesome products. In 2007, came the iPhone - a device laden with apps. The sleek device was a runaway success and as of now there are four editions of the product which have all turned to be major blockbusters for Apple inc.

If that was not enough, the company launched iPad in April 2011. Until now the company has sold more than 25 million iPads.

The pace at which Apple is growing in terms of revenue, it is just a matter of time before it could become the first trillion-dollar company in the world.

OneIndia News