Amazon briefly became the world’s most valuable public company in September 2018 after overtaking Apple.
Amazon’s share price rose strongly during 2018, and its market capitalization briefly moved above Apple’s in September. The change reflected stock-market valuations rather than a change in ownership or a formal ranking issued by a government agency. Market-cap rankings can change within minutes as share prices move.
Amazon’s valuation was supported by its retail platform, Amazon Web Services, Prime membership, advertising operations, and expanding logistics network. Apple remained a close rival, powered by the iPhone ecosystem, hardware sales, and growing services revenue.
This milestone should not be confused with Amazon’s separate achievement of becoming the second US company to reach a $1 trillion market capitalization. Amazon reached that threshold on September 4, 2018, while the temporary lead over Apple concerned which company had the larger total market value at a particular time.