Apple market value hits $500B
NEW YORK (AP) — Apple's market capitalization topped $500 billion in opening trading today, climbing to a mountain peak where few companies have ventured and none have stayed for long.
Apple was already the world's most valuable company. The gap between it and No. 2 Exxon Mobil Corp. has widened rapidly in the past month, as investors have digested Apple's report of blow-out holiday-season sales of iPhone and iPads, and raised their hopes that the company might institute a dividend.
On Tuesday, the Cupertino, Calif., company sent out invites to reporters for an event in San Francisco next Wednesday, apparently to reveal its next iPad model. The launch of the new model was expected around this time, a year after the launch of the iPad 2.
Exxon, now worth $411 billion, was worth just over $500 billion for two short stretches at the end of 2007.