Apple and Exxon Mobil battle for market cap supremacy

Apple (AAPL) declined $63.51 today, or 12.35%.  This translates into a loss of $65.8 billion in market cap.  To put this loss into perspective, there are 459 companies in the S&P 500 that have a market cap less than $65.8 billion, and the 130 smallest stocks in the S&P 500 have a combined market cap that is less than what Apple lost today.  Since Apple’s market cap peaked at $658 billion on September 19th of last year, the company has lost $235 billion in market cap.  There are only three stocks in the S&P 500 that have a market cap greater than what Apple has lost over the last four months (XOM, GOOG, BRK/a).  Pretty astounding.

In early 2012, Apple eclipsed Exxon Mobil in size to become the biggest company in the world.  By late 2012, Apple was worth more than $200 billion than Exxon.  How quickly things have changed.  After today’s decline, Apple is now worth $423 billion, which is just $6.5 billion more than Exxon Mobil.  If Apple declines another 1.55% (with XOM staying where it is now), Exxon will once again be the biggest stock in the world.  This is where the tortoise catches up with the hare.