Apple Surpasses Aramco to Become World's Largest Market Cap Leader

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] The U.S. information technology (IT) company Apple has surpassed Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company Aramco to become the world's largest company by market capitalization.

According to foreign media on the 1st (local time), Apple's closing price the previous day surged by 10.47%, reaching a market capitalization of $1.84 trillion (approximately 2,191 trillion KRW). On the same day, Aramco's market capitalization based on the closing price was $1.76 trillion (2,096 trillion KRW), ranking second.

As a result, Aramco has ceded its position as the company with the highest market capitalization, which it had held since its initial public offering (IPO) in December last year, to Apple after about eight months.

The market pointed to the strengthened market position of major IT companies due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) as the reason for Apple's stock price increase.

Apple's revenue for the second quarter of this year was $59.7 billion (approximately 71 trillion KRW), an 11% increase compared to the same period last year. On the other hand, Aramco has recently faced difficulties in operations due to reduced oil demand caused by the economic slowdown from COVID-19.

Apple logo [Image source=AP Yonhap News]

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.