Apple overtook ExxonMobil to become the world’s most valuable publicly traded company in 2011.
Apple passed ExxonMobil by market capitalization during August 2011. The shift symbolized the growing financial importance of consumer technology as Apple’s iPhone and iPad businesses expanded rapidly.
ExxonMobil was then the leading publicly traded oil company and had held the top position for years. Oil prices, the global economy, and the perceived growth prospects of both companies affected their relative valuations.
The record concerns publicly traded companies, not every business or state-owned enterprise. It also should not be confused with Apple’s later trillion-, two-trillion-, and three-trillion-dollar milestones. Those achievements measured absolute market-cap thresholds, while this event was a ranking change between Apple and ExxonMobil.