Apple approaches $200 billion

March 6, 2010, 11:35 AM UTC

With its record close Friday, it’s now the 4th largest publicly traded U.S. company



Source: Wolfram Alpha

When its shares closed at $218.95 Friday, Apple (AAPL) became one of the five biggest U.S. companies by market capitalization, right below Wal-Mart (WMT) and above Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A). (See chart at right.)

In the horse race most tech handicappers care about, however, Apple vs. Microsoft, the company has another $50 billion and change to go. Apple would have to hit $276 a share for its market cap to get past what Microsoft’s (MSFT) is today.

But Apple is closing in. Below the fold: a fever chart of the last five years.



Market capitalization, log scale. Source: Wolfram Alpha

See also:

[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]

Subscribe to Well Adjusted, our newsletter full of simple strategies to work smarter and live better, from the Fortune Well team. Sign up today.