Commentary

Facebook Same Size As GE

It’s a sign of the times: Facebook, which didn’t even exist a little over a decade ago and makes no physical consumer product of any kind, now has the same value as General Electric, a stalwart of the industrial era that still makes things like refrigerators, jet engines and nuclear power plants.

In the wake of a strong earnings announcement this week, Facebook’s stock jumped to $108.53, briefly sending its total market capitalization up to $306.4 billion, USA Today notes -- bigger than $299 billion for GE. Subsequently Facebook’s stock settled to $106.10, giving it a market capitalization of $299 billion, right on the same level as GE.

By the same measure Facebook positively dwarfs Ford Motor Co., with a market cap of merely $57 billion; General Motors, at $55 billion; and Volkswagen, at $52 billion (admittedly that last figure is a bit lower than a few weeks ago). It’s also bigger than Bank of America, at $186 billion, but still a bit smaller than Exxon, at $348 billion, and less than twice the size of Apple, at $674 billion.

Turning to countries, Facebook’s market cap is bigger than the 2014 gross domestic products of Egypt, at $287 billion; the Philippines, at $285 billion; Finland, at $271 billion; Pakistan, at $247 billion; and Peru, at $203 billion. It’s also just slightly smaller than the GDP for Israel, at $304 billion, and Singapore, at $308 billion.

Facebook’s market cap also exceeds the combined GDPs of Tanzania, Lithuania, Tunisia, Lebanon, Serbia and Libya.

Next story loading loading..