Apple now world's second-largest company

Only $47bn short of oily #1

Apple is now the world's second-largest company, in terms of market value.

In after-hours trading on the US's tech-heavy NASDAQ market, Apple's share value hovered around $293 per share. At that level, Cupertino's market value comes in at over $267bn, surpassing the former number two, PetroChina, which is valued at a paltry $265.5bn.

As Bloomberg pointed out on Thursday when Apple briefly became number two before falling back to bronze-medal level later in the day, Exxon Mobil is still el numero uno, shuffling along at $314.4bn.

One analyst recently raised his target price for Apple stock to $390 per share. If he's correct, Apple will outshine its oily better by a cool $40bn or so.

Almost exactly 13 years ago, when asked what he would do to fix the then-ailing Apple Computer, Michael Dell famously told a crowd of IT execs: "What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders."

Dell's market capitalization is currently $24.6bn.

Oh, and before you ask: Microsoft, $214.4bn; IBM, $169.2bn; Intel, $108.1bn. ®