So Apple Is Worth $1 Trillion. Now Comes the Hard Part

Apple announced stellar quarterly earnings; investors liked them; the stock rose; and Apple became the first US company to surpass $1 trillion in market value. In our love for big numbers, that made it a big story. Zachary Karabell is a WIRED contributor and president of River Twice Research. Never mind that if you adjust for inflation and go global, Apple isn't actually the first trillion-dollar company. PetroChina, the state-owned Chinese oil company, hit that number more than a decade ago, and in adjusted terms, Standard Oil did a century ago.