GDPs of entire nations – Putting Apple's $3 trillion valuation in context

Apple on Monday (January 4, 2022) topped a market value of $3 trillion – the first publicly traded company ever to be worth that much.

The iPhone maker’s shares were briefly up about 3 per cent to an all-time high of $182.88, surpassing the $182.85 per share it needed to be worth $3 trillion. The stock later pulled back from that level.

To put that staggering $3 trillion figure in context, The Federal presents five other huge things that the Cupertino company is bigger than or comparable to in terms of value.

Also read: At $3 trillion, Apple is now worth more than the entire GDP of India

GDP of Entire Countries

If Apple were a country its GDP would comfortably eclipse the GDPs of all but four nations – United States ($20.8 trillion), China ($15.22 trillion), Japan ($4.91 trillion) and Germany ($3.78 trillion).

The nations with GDP figures immediately below $3 trillion are: the United Kingdom, India, France, Italy, Canada and South Korea.

If Apple’s share continue to march upwards, the company will soon overtake both Germany and Japan.

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Largest Stock Exchange Operators Worldwide

As of October 2021, the largest stock exchange operators globally by market capitalisation of listed companies are: NYSE ($20.24 trillion), NASDAQ ($24.07 trillion), Shanghai Stock Exchange ($7.77 trillion), Euronext Europe ($7.38 trillion), Japan Exchange Group ($6.68 trillion), Hong Kong Exchanges ($5.82 trillion) Shenzen Stock Exchange ($5.76 trillion), LSE Group ($3.8 trillion), National Stock Exchange, India ($3.43 trillion), TMX Group, Canada ($3.32 trillion).

In a few months or years Apple’s market valuation could soon be worth than the values of stocks traded at LSE Group, NSE and TMX Group.

M-cap of India’s 10 Biggest Companies

The market capitalisation of India’s 10 biggest companies – Reliance Industries, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank, Infosys, Hindustan Lever, ICICI Bank, Housing Development Finance Corporation, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India and Bharti Airtel – is less than $1.2 trillion. Theoretically Apple could not only swallow all of India’s Top 10 business giants, but also the next one-thousand – easy given the company is worth more than India’s entire GDP.

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The Entire US Budget Deficit

Since 2001, the US has run a deficit each year. Beginning in 2016, increases in spending on social security, health care, and interest on federal debt have outpaced the growth of federal revenue.

The deficit totalled $2.77 trillion for 2021, the second highest on record but an improvement from the all-time high of $3.13 trillion reached in 2020. The deficits in both years reflect trillions of dollars in government spending to counteract the devastating effects of a global pandemic.

Before the pandemic deficits of the past two years, the biggest deficit the federal government recorded was a shortfall of $1.4 trillion in 2009 during the Obama administration as the government spent heavily to fight the 2008 financial crisis.

As it stands, Apple’s market cap comfortably beats the entire US budget deficit.

Cost of the First World War, the Vietnam War and the Iraq War

While one cannot put a monetary value on the horrors of war and the death and destruction they cause, a 2010 Congressional Research Service report estimated the economic cost of each US war between 1775 and 2010, adjusting the figures to reflect constant dollar prices as of the fiscal year 2011. Based on data from that report, Apple’s market cap exceeds the inflation-adjusted costs to the US of the First World War, the Vietnam War and the Iraq War, among others. The only exception is the Second World War, with an estimated cost of $4.1 trillion in 2011 dollars.