Apple Is Almost Worth More Than Every Airline and Aviation Company Combined

Yesterday, Apple made history. It became the first public company to hit a $1 trillion valuation. The company that almost went bankrupt in the 1990s is by far and away the most valuable in the world.

Its value is so high that it's actually larger than the GDP of many large economies like Turkey and the Netherlands.

The New York Times did a fascinating study that compared Apple's valuation to a variety of companies, including the big banks and auto companies.

There was a surprising tidbit in there — Apple is worth almost as much as all of the world's major airlines and aviation companies combined. The combined value of all these companies, including massive aircraft manufacturers like Airbus, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and major airlines like American, United, Delta, Alaska, Air China, Singapore and Southwest (the list goes on on) is about $1.01 trillion.

A few other numbers that may blow your mind: Apple employs about 123,000 people. Airbus alone employs about 129,000 people and Boeing pays about 141,000 people's salaries. Throw in American (122,000), Delta (87,000) and United (88,000) and with just those five companies that's about 567,000 workers.

Keep in mind that this is just the market's valuation of Apple — and values can change overnight. Just last week Facebook lost 19% of its value ($119 billion) in one day. And, it takes a whole lot of iPhones to pay for a $437 million Airbus A380.

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H/T: The New York Times