How Much Money Is $700 Billion? Apple's Market Cap In Context

Apple Inc.’s AAPL stock surpassed the $120 threshold today, trading at an all-time high -- on a split-adjusted basis. This means that the company’s market capitalization is now very close to $700 million, thus maintaining its position as the largest publicly traded company in the world.

But, those not so familiar –or comfortable- with such big figures might ask, how much money is $700 billion? Below, a few comparisons to put the number in context:

-       $700 billion is almost five times the government budget proposed for California –the state with the largest budget- for fiscal 2014 ($145.8 billion), and 184 times the budget for the whole state of Delaware – for 2014.

-        $700 billion is more than 218 times what the most valuable football team, the Dallas Cowboys, is worth ($3.2 billion), 269 times the value of the New England Patriots ($2.6 billion), and 291 times what the Washington Redskins are worth ($2.4).

-       $700 billion is about 105 times what the two largest soccer clubs in the world are worth, combined! Real Madrid ($3.44 billion) and Barcelona ($3.2 billion) together are valued at  $6.64 billion.

-       $700 billion is more than Switzerland’s 2014 GDP -- $679 billion, and about 3.5 times the GDP for New Zealand - $200 billion.

-       $700 billion is enough to buy 2185 McDonald's Corporation MCD cheeseburgers – or about 6 cheeseburgers a day for a whole year- to each one of the 320,274,540 U.S. residents.

-       $700 billion is enough to give more than $600 dollars to each resident in the African continent. This is what a person makes –in average- in a full-year of work in sub-Saharan Africa.

-       $700 billion is enough to buy all of Google Inc.’s GOOG GOOGL and Microsoft Corporation’s MSFT outstanding shares.

-       $700 billion is enough to make the three riches men on Earth -Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Carlos Slim Helu- jealous. Their combined net worth is just $223.8 billion, less than 1/3 of Apple’s market cap.