The $800 Billion Gorilla

Apple today became the first company to ever have a market capitalization of $800 billion - briefly. Apple stock crossed the $800 billion mark early in the afternoon, but then gave back some of its value before closing, ending the day at a market cap of $797.8 billion.

It's still by far the most valuable company in the world. The rest of the top five, in order of market cap:

• Alphabet $652 billion
• Microsoft $530 billion
• Amazon.com $451 billion
• Berkshire Hathaway $406 billion