By: The Guardian
April 29, 2021
Apple’s trading figures for the first three months of 2021 were a collection of astonishing numbers. Revenues for iPhones, a product that was supposed to have peaked a couple of years ago because Apple was pushing prices too high, rose by two-thirds to almost $48bn. Sales from iPads were up 79% and Macs were 70% better. Even the relative backwater of “wearables”, meaning watches and headphones and suchlike, improved by a quarter.
But the most remarkable figure, from a UK perspective, may be one that was almost slipped in casually – a $90bn share buy-back. Think what the sterling equivalent, £64bn, would buy. Only eight FTSE 100 companies are worth more. Even BP is valued at “only” £62bn, albeit a notional buyer would also assume borrowings or £25bn. In effect, Apple has an entire BP lying around as spare change, deemed surplus to operating or investment requirements.
There’s nothing particularly new in such comparisons, of course. When Apple passed a $2tn valuation last autumn it was worth as much as the combined market capitalisations of all 100 companies in the UK’s blue-chip index.