Technology giant Apple leads the race among other global enterprises to become the world’s first trillion-dollar company.
According to The Guardian, financial commentators and investors have predicted that 2018 will herald the first firm with a stock market valuation of USD one trillion or more, if technology share prices continue to rise as they did in 2017.
Apple presently leads the race with a market valuation of USD 869 billion on Tuesday.
The company is currently ahead of Google’s parent company Alphabet, which has a market value of USD 729 billion.
Moreover, the firm which transformed mobile communications with the iPhone, would require a 15 percent increase in its share price to tip over USD one trillion.
Apple’s share prices increased by 47 per cent last year.
Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Tencent are other leading contendors.
Meanwhile, 2017 had been a good year for Apple and its CEO Tim Cook. The iPhone X was well-received by its audience, resulting in an increase in higher revenue and net income for fiscal 2017, following a slump the previous year.
According to a Bloomberg report, Cook received 74% increase in his annual bonus. He also took home $3.06 million in salary and a previously disclosed equity award of $89.2 million, bringing his total payout for the year to about $102 million.
The report added that Cook’s five lieutenants received bonuses of $3.11 million each, bringing their total compensation to about $24.2 million each, including salaries and stock awards.
Earlier in 2017, Apple Inc reported its first quarterly increase in iPhone sales in a year, powered by strong demand for the latest version of its flagship smartphone, sending the company’s shares up more than 3 % in after-hours trading.
Apple sold 78.29 million iPhones in the first quarter ended Dec. 31, up from 74.78 million last year. Analysts on average had estimated 77.42 million, according to research firm FactSet StreetAccount.
The results, which reflected the first full quarter of iPhone 7 sales, come at a time when global demand for smartphones is slowing and cheaper Android alternatives are flooding the market.
The company is heavily dependent on the success of iPhones, which account for more than two-thirds of its total revenue.