RENO, Nev. — No company is bearing more fruit than Apple right now.
Apple on Aug. 2 became the world’s first publicly traded company to be valued at $1 trillion, according to the Associated Press.
The maker of the iPhone and other gadgets reached the milestone after its shares gained $5.89 to surge to an all-time high of $207.39 — up 23 percent so far this year.
All told, Apple is worth $1,001,679,220,000.
The achievement seemed unimaginable in September 1997 when Apple teetered on the edge of bankruptcy and founder Steve Jobs rejoined the company. If someone had dared to buy $10,000 worth of Apple stock at that point of desperation, the investment would now be worth about $2.6 million, according to the AP.
The stock started surging last week as anticipation mounts for the next generation of iPhone, expected to be released in September, the AP reports.
The Northern Nevada Business View reached out to members of the regional business community to get their reaction to Apple's latest triumph.
“I was like, gosh, Apple has come a long way from when I first had my Apple IIc,” said Doug Erwin, SVP of entrepreneurial development at the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada, referring to the fourth model in the Apple II series of personal computers that was discontinued back in 1988. “I think it just speaks to where the world is going with software and hardware technology. Obviously, everyone I know has an iPhone and an iPad. And software is just eating the world, and you can just see that in Apple.”
In January 2018, Apple invested $1.6 billion in Northern Nevada with the groundbreaking of a new warehouse in downtown Reno that will support its data center located just east of Reno-Sparks.
At the groundbreaking, Apple CEO Tim Cook said Apple intends to invest an additional $1 billion in the region over the next six years.
“Obviously, Apple’s going to continue to be a dominant player in the data centers and that will be helpful for Northern Nevada,” Erwin said this week. “Hopefully as they continue to grow, they’ll want to bring more technology into our market.”
Kyle McClelland, president of Have Lights Will Travel and Entrepreneurs' Organization Reno/Tahoe, echoed Erwin's sentiment.
"If they continue on this trend, it should mean that Northern Nevada can be home to future projects for Apple and offer more opportunities in the Silver State," McClelland said in an email to the NNBV. "I am confident that Apple will continue to expand its offerings and forge ahead on the path of the largest company in the world."
Dave Archer, president and CEO of NCET, said he was struck by how the largest market cap companies have changed industries over the years. In 2001, it was manufacturing (GE); in 2006 and 2011, it was energy (Exxon); from 2016 on, it's been tech (Apple), according to Visual Capitalist.
“I think it’s a reflection of our changes in our economy as a society that a company like Apple is the first company to reach the $1 trillion valuation,” Archer told the NNBV.
Not only that, Archer said, many of those companies “nipping at Apple’s heels” in terms of valuation also have a significant presence in the greater Reno area. Amazon is the second-most valuable company with a market value of $895 billion. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is third at $863 billion, according to the AP.
“I think that represents the trajectory Northern Nevada is on,” Archer said. “That we can attract the Amazons, the Googles, the Teslas to Northern Nevada; that we’re a welcoming environment for them.”
