It’s Never Been Easier to Be a Trillion-Dollar Company

In August 2018, Apple became the first public company to reach a $1 trillion valuation. At the time, its annual revenue was $229 billion. In October 2021, Tesla became the sixth company to reach $1 trillion, with each company reaching that mark on less revenue than the company before it. Tesla arrived in the four-comma club with a mere $32 billion in revenue.

Stock valuations used to be about fundamentals and technicals. Now they’re about storytelling and the vision the CEO concocts and the media propagates. The result? Shares in virtually bankrupt companies like AMC and Hertz spiked 1,000% in 2021, and three electric-vehicle firms—Tesla, Lucid, and Rivian—were together worth more than the auto and airline industries combined.

The trend continues: It took Apple forty-two years to be worth $1 trillion in 2018, two years to hit $2 trillion, and seventeen months to hit $3 trillion.

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Revenue the Year Before Trillion-Dollar Valuation

Sources: George Maroudas via Twitter, Prof G analysis.