Facebook is now the 4th most valuable company in the world

Technology has ousted oil – Yes, Facebook is now ahead of Exxon Mobil.

PHOTO: MASHABLE

It is now the fourth biggest company in the world with regards to market capitalization. Now all leading four companies in the world are technology companies, which hardly surprises anyone.

Facebook recently published an earnings report that showcased the company’s revenue increasing by billions of dollars. The main cause for massive earnings was advertising revenue generated by increasing use of smartphones and tablets. The increase in revenues have made Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, eighth richest person in the world.

Exxon that once topped the rankings of the most valuable companies, has seen a steady decline due to petroleum crises in the international market. The crises has seen prices go down dramatically and thus decreasing oil companies’ profits. Exxon is now going head to head with Berkshire Hathaway of Warren Buffet, to remain in America’s top five companies with regards to market capitalization.

Facebook now has a market value of $323 billion while Exxon stands at $316 billion. This data was provided by FactSet (a financial research firm):

IMG COURTESY: MASHABLE

 Data by YCharts

The four companies that lead the charts are (in order):

• Apple
• Alphabet (Google’s parent company)
• Microsoft
• Facebook

Market capitalization is not a steady chart. It is always changing. But it is more than just fancy stats. It is a clear indication of faith of Wall Street investors in a company’s potential. It wasn’t a long time ago when Facebook was being written off by investors as it was considered fragile after going public.

Apple the current number one, now seems in trouble. It has been tipped that Google may one day, and that day isn’t very far away, take over Apple to become the number one. Sales of iPhones are plummeting. There is no product that can seemingly save Apple’s declining sales.

Google with a new structure and an ambitious CFO, has a lot of bright products in the pipeline. Experts say it could be any day that Wall Street investors see Google as more growth-worthy than Apple and that would be the day when Google becomes the most valuable company in the world.