When talking about the biggest company in the world, it’s not unusual for there to be eye-popping numbers. But Apple’s latest superlative is not one investors would like to see.
Since becoming the first American company to surpass $2 trillion in market value in August and peaking last month, the iPhone maker has lost $450 billion, wiped out by a 19% slump. The latest bout of selling—a 5.6% drop on Friday—took out more than $120 billion alone. Apple’s now worth $1.85 trillion and still the most valuable U.S. company, but the amount shaved from its ledger since its September peak is more than the entire market cap of Visa, the seventh largest member of the S&P 500, and greater than the value of Thailand’s stock exchange.
The drawdown comes as the tech giant reported iPhone sales that missed analysts’ estimates and gave no forecast for the holiday quarter. Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue from the iPhone was $26.4 billion, compared to expectations of $27.1 billion.
The Nasdaq 100 Index plunged 2.6% on Friday and had its worst week since the coronavirus-induced selloff in March. Disappointing sales forecasts from tech companies like Apple, Twitter and Facebook are sparking worries about further growth potential in the names that led this year’s rebound.
