Apple became the world’s most valuable publicly traded company in 2011, overtaking ExxonMobil.
Apple’s market value moved ahead of ExxonMobil during 2011 as investors responded to the continuing success of the iPhone, the iPad and the company’s expanding digital ecosystem. ExxonMobil had long held the leading position among listed companies because of its enormous oil and gas operations and strong commodity revenues.
The change marked a major shift in how investors valued large corporations. Apple was increasingly judged as a technology and consumer-services company rather than only a hardware manufacturer. Its combination of premium devices, software, retail distribution and recurring services revenue supported a much higher valuation.
This fact concerns market capitalization, not annual sales, profits or physical size. ExxonMobil remained one of the world’s largest businesses by revenue, while Apple’s share-price performance made it the most valuable listed company by equity value.