Apple- maker of iPhone, iPads, etc becomes first $700 billion company

Shares of Apple AAPL, +0.51% closed up 1.9% at a new record high of $122.02 earlier this week, pushing the iPhone maker's market capitalization above $700 billion for the first time. As of Tuesday's close, the Cupertino-based company was valued at $710.8 billion, making Apple the first U.S. company to surpass the $700 billion mark. Apple first traded above $700 billion in intraday trade on Nov. 25, 2014, but this is the first time the stock has closed above it. Since Apple's IPO in December 1980, the company's market value has risen more than 50,600%, with half of that occurring since January 2012, according to Dow Jones Factoids.

Apple is now double the size of Microsoft MSFT, +0.23% which is the second-largest U.S. company with a market cap of $347.5 billion.

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