Apple became the first publicly traded company valued at more than $3 trillion during trading in January 2022.
Its shares briefly reached the price needed to place the company’s total equity value above $3 trillion on January 3, 2022. The milestone followed Apple’s earlier records as the first company above $1 trillion and $2 trillion in market capitalization.
The achievement demonstrated how share price and share count work together. Apple had hundreds of billions of shares outstanding, so even a small movement in the share price could change its total market value by many billions of dollars.
The phrase “during trading” matters. Intraday market capitalization is different from a closing valuation, because the share price may fall before the market session ends. Apple’s milestone is also distinct from later occasions when other companies briefly challenged its position.