Apple bites into history, is first US firm to reach $2 trillion in market cap

It took Apple 42 years to reach $1 trillion in value. Even more stunning: All of Apple’s second $1 trillion came in the past 21 weeks, while the global economy shrank faster than ever before in the coronavirus pandemic. On Wednesday, Apple became the first US company to hit a $2 trillion valuation when its shares climbed 1.2% to $467.8 in morning trading. Apple is the second publicly traded company to hit $2 trillion. Apple’s rapid rise to $2 trillion is particularly astonishing because the company has not done much new in the past two years. From April through June, even as Apple shuttered many of its retail stores because of the virus, it posted $11.25 billion in profits, up 12% from a year ago. Apple has repurchased more than $360 billion of its own shares since 2012, by far the most of any company, and has announced plans to spend at least tens of billions of dollars more on Apple stock.