According to The Wall Street Journal, shares of the world’s most valuable public company rose $5.89, or 2.9%, to $207.39, making it worth slightly more than $1 trillion. Apple reached the milestone when it climbed above $207.04 in midday trading. The stock has risen 23% so far this year, its latest rally coming after it reported strong revenue and profit gains Tuesday as demand for high-price iPhones remained resilient and sales from the app store and other services hit all-time highs.
Apple’s rise has been propelled by the sustained success of the iPhone developed under late co-founder Steve Jobs, a product visionary who helped revive the company from a death spiral in the late 1990s. His successor, Tim Cook, has turned Apple into a cash-generating giant by pushing its existing products to prominence in China and cultivating its rapidly growing services business—moves that have helped stave off concerns about the absence of a new, blockbuster device.
“We’ve heard a number of times since Mr. Jobs died that the company was going to slip and fall, but they’ve continued to execute,” said Greg Hersch, founder of New York City-based Florence Capital Advisors, which has more than $400 million under management and counts Apple among its largest holdings.
The iPhone, and the smartphone era it birthed, helped lift other tech giants—and disrupted many other businesses. Smartphones drive mobile advertising businesses at Google and Facebook, and account for an increasing share of the e-commerce transactions lifting Amazon.
Technology’s ubiquity, and the industry’s swelling wealth and clout, also have triggered growing criticism and regulatory scrutiny—one of several factors that could undermine the boom.
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