Apple loses position as biggest public company in the world
Apple has lost its place as the largest public company in the world, leading to speculation that its massive growth trajectory in recent years is coming to an end.
The news comes as Apple’s shares fell 2 per cent to $440.75, a far cry from its $700 peak in September 2012.
This gave it a market capitalisation of $414.4 billion (£262.4 billion), putting it behind oil and gas business Exxon Mobil, which saw its shares rise 0.23 per cent to $91.58 and report a market capitalisation of $417.4 billion (£264.3 billion).
Additionally, Apple investors have been cashing in shares as it reported only a slight improvement on profit from the previous year.
More than $50 billion was wiped off the value of the company on Thursday as shares fell more than 12 per cent – its biggest fall for more than four years.
Analysts claim that the slowdown in sales of Apple’s gadgets could be “here to stay”, because of increasing competition from rivals like Samsung and an apparent slow down in new products from Apple.