Apple was the world’s largest company by market capitalization throughout 2012.
Financial Times market-capitalization rankings placed Apple first in each quarter of 2012. Its value was about $559 billion in the first quarter, $546 billion in the second, $625 billion in the third, and $501 billion at year-end.
Apple’s position reflected the enormous success of the iPhone and iPad, along with strong investor expectations for continued growth. ExxonMobil, which had frequently competed with Apple for the top spot, remained second in every quarter listed for 2012.
A common mix-up is with 2011, when ExxonMobil and Apple traded the top position at different points. Apple also briefly lost the number-one ranking to ExxonMobil in parts of 2013, so the wording “all of 2012” matters: Apple led at every quarterly checkpoint that year.