On Jan. 7, Amazon.com Inc. became the world’s largest company by market capitalization. Its rise might make you think today’s biggest technology companies are turning into unstoppable juggernauts of growth, or that turnover at the top is only accelerating.
First, consider the history of all the companies that have ranked No. 1 by market size. It’s full of surprises.
From the beginning of 1926 through the end of last year, only 10 companies have ever ranked No. 1 among all U.S. stocks by market capitalization. Amazon has just become the 11th, succeeding Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc., ExxonMobil Corp., General Electric Co., Walmart Inc., Altria Group Inc., International Business Machines Corp., DowDuPont Inc., General Motors Co. and AT&T Inc….
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This article was originally published on The Wall Street Journal.
Further reading
Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor
Jason Zweig, The Devil’s Financial Dictionary
Jason Zweig, Your Money and Your Brain
Jason Zweig, The Little Book of Safe Money
Leslie Hannah, “Marshall’s ‘Trees’ and the Global ‘Forest’: Were ‘Giant Redwoods’ Different?” (National Bureau of Economic Research, 1999)
Data on early stock prices (EH.net) and issuance of stock by early corporations (Univ. of Pennsylvania)