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So, at the end of the year…What’s a trillion dollars between friends?
The answer is obvious. A trillion dollars is a lot between friends, and especially between investors who started 2022 out flush, and have seen a good chunk of their portfolios flushed away during what has been a rough year on the stock market.
And that goes for some of the biggest names in technology, including a group can still claim market caps of more than $1T, but have seen their valuations drop precipitously this year.
Leading the way is Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), which in January became the first company in history to reach a stock-market valuation of $3T. Apple (AAPL) was no stranger to such lofty numbers, as it was also the first publicly traded company to top $1T and $2T in stock-market valuation.
But, inflation levels not seen in four decades, along with ongoing supply chain issues throughout the tech sector, and ongoing COVID-related lockdowns in areas of China where iPhones and other Apple (AAPL) products are made all hit the economy hard and battered investors’ psyches throughout the year.
It all added up to a situation that not even Apple (AAPL) was immune to, and by Wednesday, the company’s market cap had fallen by 28% on the year, to “only” $2.16T.
Apple’s (AAPL) other trillion-dollar-market brethren also managed to remain in that club, but not without taking their own lumps through the year.
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), which hit a market-cap peak valuation of $2.5T, was down to $1.82T by Wednesday, a loss of 27% since its January peak. Google parent company Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) held onto a market valuation of $1.16T, but that was after falling from just above $2T in market cap earlier this year.
But Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) might just end of being the poster child for Big Tech losses in 2022. At its peak this year, Amazon (AMZN) had a valuation of $1.76T. And by Wednesday, Amazon (AMZN) was down to a market cap of $883B and looking like a long time away from getting back to having a capital “T” next to its stock market valuation.
The trillion-dollar market cap companies weren’t the only Big Tech leaders to take it on the chin this year. And those that might have had $1T in valuation in sight are now likely to be years away from reaching that elite market cap level.
Nvidia (NVDA), which got to as high as $780B in market cap this year, was down to $410B by Wednesday. Facebook parent company Meta Platforms (META), which began 2022 worth almost $800B, had lost around 60% of its valuation, to fall to a market cap of $317B.
If the losses of 2022 reveal anything, its that 2023 might just bring more uncertainty, and the trillion-dollar-valuation group might have even fewer members by the end of next year.
