Apple is now bigger than Russia's stock market: Report

Putting an end to all the criticism around ‘ failing Apple empire ’, the company has made a huge comeback. In fact, Apple seems to be more profitable than ever before. This week, it closed at an all time high with company’s market cap at $663.2 billion. This makes it so wealthy that it can buy the entire Russian stock market and will still be left with lots of money to spare. According to Bloomberg , the Russian stock market has slumped $234 billion to $531 billion this year, and Apple has gained $147 billion to $652 billion.  Interestingly, the report points out, “If you owned Apple, and sold it, you could purchase the entire stock market of Russia, and still have enough change to buy every Russian an iPhone 6 Plus.” Afterall, the difference of $121 billion as on November 12 is equivalent to the price of 143 million contract-free 64-gigabyte iPhones. It isn’t just the Russian stock market that Apple has surpassed. It is also bigger than Singapore and Italy. In fact, the company is expecting a record holidy-sales quarter and also has $155 billion in cash. The company’s new iPhone 6 models with larger display have turned out to be a huge hit. The company sold a record 10 million iPhones in the first weekend after its new, larger phone models went on sale in 10 countries. The number has multiplied as iPhone 6 models paved their way into more markets across the world. This piece of news would come as a relief to investors. Earlier this year, there were reports about how the new Apple management has failed to keep up with Jobs’ vision and the company looked like an ‘haunted empire’ without an emperor. In a meeting in February, Cook had told shareholders that the company’s commitment to innovation remains Apple’s “North Star” and “the beat of its heart". However, his pep talk reportedly didn’t inspire many investors. On the other hand, Apple’s stocks coninued to shed. Reports also revealed that shareholders still affirmed their confidence in Cook and he was re-elected to Apple’s eight-member board of directors with 99 percent of the vote.