Apple’s market capitalization (~$218.2 billion today) has been higher than Wal-Mart’s (~$191.5 billion) for about the last three months (see chart below), which is especially interesting considering that Apple’s market cap was less than $10 billion in late 2003 when Wal-Mart’s (WMT) value was almost $200 billion.
Apple (AAPL) hasn’t quite caught up to Microsoft’s market capitalization yet, but it’s getting close – they’re only about $15 billion apart now; $233.3 billion for Microsoft (MSFT) vs. $218.2 billion for Apple (see chart below).
More than Apple is doing well, it seems that Microsoft is doing very poorly. Apple eventually overtaking Microsoft in market cap will be like stealing candy from a sick baby. Vista was one of the worst things that ever happened to Microsoft. The iPad will be the second worst thing. One more spurt from Apple shares up to around $280 or so will leave Microsoft gasping for air. I'm sure Apple will recover from this recent market drop faster than Microsoft. Look out Exxon-Mobil, here comes Apple.
I still remember when Michael Dell said that AAPL should just close up and return the money they have to shareholders. Now, AAPL is worth over $200 billion and DELL is $26 billion. Crazy how a company can reinvent itself so well.
If any company has a chance of growing larger than future AAPL it will be Google and not Microsoft
Like my mom used to say, "Overnight success takes ten years of hard work!"