Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
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Shares of Apple climbed Thursday to hit the magic number of $207.05, making it the first US company to reach a market value of $1 trillion.
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The latest surge came after Apple's second-quarter results topped Wall Street's expectations and sent the stock climbing.
Apple on Thursday become the first US company worth more than $1 trillion on a public stock market.
The company on Tuesday reported second-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street's expectations, sending shares surging by more than 5% into Wednesday. The rally continued on Thursday, with the stock closing at $207.39, which translates to a market cap of just over $1 trillion.
In a memo to employees obtained by Reuters, Tim Cook, Apple's chief executive, praised his team for the milestone, but reminded them it was not the most important measure of the company's success.
"Financial returns are simply the result of Apple’s innovation, putting our products and customers first, and always staying true to our values," Cook wrote.
In the more than four decades since Steve Jobs founded the company in a California garage, Apple has become nearly synonymous with personal computing and mobile devices. After launching the iPhone — arguably its most famous product — in 2007, Apple now churns out over 40 million of the devices every quarter, helping it rake in $254.63 billion in revenue last year.
Adjusted for splits, Apple's stock price has risen nearly 40,000% since its initial public offering in 1980.
Business Insider/Andy Kiersz, data from Bloomberg
Now, the non-hardware services category is fueling Apple's continued growth. On Tuesday, the company said Apple Services, which includes things like the App Store and Apple Music, saw a 31% jump in revenue.
For context, passing the $1 trillion mark means Apple now has a value greater than the gross domestic product of all but 26 major countries; its value is higher than the GDP of Argentina, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland, among others, according to the CIA's World Factbook.
Other companies have come close to the mark, but no public US company has hit a $1 trillion valuation. PetroChina briefly crossed it in November 2007, but for less than a day. The state-controlled oil firm is now valued at less than $500 billion and is smaller than the Chinese tech giant Alibaba.
Elsewhere, Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil company of Saudi Arabia, has reportedly been eyeing a public offering that could value it near $2 trillion, but a potential listing has been mired in delays.