Apple briefly becomes the world’s most valuable company

Apple topped Exxon Mobile in mid-day trading today, as the largest company in the world, by market capitalization.

However, Exxon Mobil (XOM) shares staged a late rally that helped the oil giant hold off Apple (AAPL) and remain the world’s most-valuable company.

Exxon’s stock ended the day with a gain of $1.45 a share, or 2%, at $71.64, and closed with a market cap of $348.3 billion. Meanwhile, Apple shares rose $20.80, or almost 6%, to close the day at $374.01 and with a market cap of $346.7 billion.

Apple’s stock has been on an enormous run over the last decade. The tech giant’s stock is up over 42% in the last year, 447% in the last five years and over 3732% in the last ten years.

Originally posted 2011-08-09 20:54:25.