Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ:$AAPL) CEO Tim Cook can now technically make the entire city of Chicago the new corporate headquarters for the tech company.
According to Bank of America-Merrill Lynch (NYSE:$BAC), many major tech companies are now worth more than some major American cities — like Chicago. The data compares the company’s market capitalization with a city’s metropolitan gross domestic product (GDP).
Currently, Apple’s market capitalization is around $803 billion — about 38% bigger than the GDP of Chicago, which landed at $581 billion in 2016. It isn’t just Apple that’s worth more than Chicago, either — Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:$GOOGL) has a current market capitalization of $657.9 billion, about 13% higher than Chicago’s GDP.
But while Alphabet’s market cap is still a ways away from being worth more than the two biggest cities in the U.S. — Los Angeles and New York City — Apple’s market cap is only a little less than 4% from surpassing Los Angeles’ GDP of $832 billion in 2016. It would be quite a feat, though, for Apple to surpass the GDP of New York City: a whopping $1.483 trillion in 2016. Even if you combine the both Apple’s and Alphabet’s current market caps, New York’s GDP still stands 2% above the number. To exceed New York’s GDP in 2016, Apple’s market cap will have to rise by around 85%.
Still, it’s not impossible. Thanks to rising technological growth and ever-increasing innovation, some analysts think that Apple could reach more than $1 trillion in market cap in the next year or two.
In addition, Apple and Alphabet’s combined market cap of $1.47 trillion is bigger than both the financial sectors of Japan and the eurozone — totalling $1.3 trillion.
Other large cities in the U.S. that Apple and Alphabet surpasses are Dallas, Houston, and Washington D.C. Apple’s shares have gone up an impressive 33% this year so far, while Alphabet is up 21%. After its research and data compilation, The Bank of America called the stats astonishing.
Featured Image: Depositphotos/© saiko3p
