Apple has beaten out Jeff Bezos and his army of faithful drones to become the first trillion-dollar public company in history.
The Cali tech giant’s shares hit $207.05 yesterday following strong financial results. The company’s shares have grown fourfold since Tim Cooke replaced the late Steve Jobs as chief executive in 2011.
Some experts put Apple’s milestone down to Donald Trump’s tax reforms, as the company’s corporate tax rate fell 9.6% from the previous year. Profits rose to $11.5bn, up 32% compared to the same period in 2017.
Microsoft and Amazon aren’t trailing too far behind, and the latter looks destined to reach the dizzy figure after posting strong profits last week.
Earlier this year, Apple was fined £11.6 billion by the EU over an illegal tax deal in Ireland. The company says it has already paid back two-thirds of the total. HMRC also forced Apple Europe to pay £137 million following an "extensive audit".
Founded as a personal computer company in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, Apple was on the verge of going bust in 1997 before Microsoft swooped into save them with a $150 million investment. It's thought that Bill Gates' company only put up the money because they were fearful of coming up against monopoly laws.
Four years later, Apple changed the music world forever with the iPod. But it was the astonishingly popular iPhone in 2007 that placed Apple at the vanguard of modern culture, paving the way for tablets and the app economy.
Nick Pope is the Site Director of Esquire, overseeing digital strategy for the brand.
