Amazon reports higher market capitalization than Exxon Mobil
Amazon on Monday became the world’s fourth-most valuable company by market capitalization, usurping scandal-struck oil giant Exxon Mobil.
The internet giant’s stock price rose by just over 1 percent, bringing its value up to about $366 billion. Hobbled by plummeting oil prices, shares of the world’s biggest oil company fell by more than 2 percent, dragging their total value down to about $356 billion.
The change marks two simultaneous shifts in the global economy, as internet companies gain more dominance and dirty energy stocks continue their long-term slide as the world inches closer to weaning itself off environmentally disastrous fossil fuels.
Amazon, famous for spending so much on growth that it frequently fails to turn profits, has soared in recent years as its footprint over the digital economy widens. In many ways, it now symbolizes the future.