Today, Apple Computer (AAPL) became the company with the highest market capitalization ever, as measured in US Dollars. It exceeded the market cap record set back at the end of 1999 by Microsoft, according to the MarketWatch article "Apple closes as most valuable company of all time".
But a USD today doesn't buy what it used to in 1999. In fact, a dollar on 27-Dec-1999 (the day of Microsoft's all time high price of 6 grams per share) would buy about 108 mg of gold; today, a dollar will buy just over 19 mg of gold. So according to the figures quoted in the article, MiSFT's all time high market cap was 66,397 tonnes of gold, while AAPL's market value today was just 12,008 tonnes – less than one-fifth of MSFT's at its peak.
Check out these charts (courtesy of StockCharts.com, prices in ounces of gold). Apple stock has risen a lot since 1999, while Microsoft has fallen; but Apple still has a long way to go before it truly exceeds MSFT's all time value record.
Comments on Apple vs Microsoft
Wow, you're fast. I was hoping you'd do this.
I didn't know StockCharts.com allowed pricing in gold. Would be good to see the charts overlayed.
The theft of 80 gold mg gold from every US dollar since 1999 astounds me. I have to think that inflation brings in more money to government than taxation. Wait, the 80 mg is over 13 years, so that's a 6% inflation tax per year, though on all dollars held. Have to think about this more.