Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/04/18/apple_shares_exxon/
PEAK APPLE: Fondleslab giant no longer world's biggest biz
Share price shenanigans nudges ExxonMobil ahead
Posted in Financial News, 18th April 2013 11:56 GMT
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Apple has lost the title of world's biggest company after a share slide allowed oil giant ExxonMobil to take the top spot.
Fears over future sales for iPhones and iPads sent shares in the fruity firm falling on Wednesday from $420.27 to a low of $398.11, before recovering to end the day at $402.80 - a drop across the day of 4.16%. ExxonMobil is now worth slightly more than Apple's $380 billion.
This is the first time Apple's shares have dipped below the $400 mark for 18 months. Late last year its shares were hovering around the $700 mark.
The shares plunged after Cirrus Logic, a key Apple supplier, reported a decline its sales. Apple snaps up some 90% of Cirrus' sound components for use in the iPad and iPhone, but Cirrus' earnings for this quarter are expected to be significantly down - and it doesn't expect sales to pick up any time soon. On Tuesday Cirrus said an "unnamed company" had ordered fewer components.
This has been widely read as a clue that Apple has plans to produce fewer of the next generation of iPhones, perhaps after building up a surplus. However, this could be also explained as Apple finding a new component supplier.
China also appears to be becoming increasingly hostile to Apple, accusing it of peddling porn [1] through the app store and forcing Tim Cook to apologise about the standard of his underlings' customer service.
These ructions to a market which eats up 15% of the fruity firm's produce, and is worth $23.8 billion to Cupertino, are bound to be worrying Cook and his crew. ®