Apple hits $1 trillion stock market valuation

Apple Inc became the first $1 trillion publicly listed U.S. company on Thursday, crowning a decade-long rise fueled by its ubiquitous iPhone that transformed it from a niche player in personal computers into a global powerhouse spanning entertainment and communications.

The tech company`s stock jumped 2.8 percent, bringing its gain to about 9 percent since Tuesday when it reported June-quarter results above expectations and said it bought back $20 billion of its own shares.

Started in the garage of co-founder Steve Jobs in 1976, Apple has pushed its revenue beyond the economic outputs of Portugal, New Zealand and other countries. Along the way, it has changed how consumers connect with one another and how businesses conduct daily commerce.

The Silicon Valley stalwart`s stock has surged more than 50,000 percent since its 1980 initial public offering, dwarfing the S&P 500`s approximately 2,000-percent increase during the same almost four decades.

One of five U.S. companies since the 1980s to take a turn as Wall Street`s largest company by market capitalization, Apple could lose its lead to the likes of Alphabet Inc or Amazon.com Inc if it does not find a major new product or service as demand for smartphones loses steam.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)