Apple builds monster market numbers

Apple's market value has eclipsed that of Google

Just a decade after it was on the brink of bankruptcy, Apple has built a market value higher than that of Google, Cisco, and Intel.

As originally reported by Apple news site MacDailyNews, the company has built its market cap to some $158bn, according to figures from Businessweek. On Thursday, Apple shares closed at $179.32.

That number is nearly identical to that of Google. The company viewed by many as the quintessential internet success story also closed out Thursday with a $158bn cap.

Apple still ranks far behind reigning tech king Microsoft, which boasts a cap of some $254bn. The company is, however, ahead of such names as Intel ($139bn), HP ($112bn), and Cisco ($145bn)

Apple's massive value is a far cry from the company's dark days of the mid-1990s when questionable business decisions and slow sales placed the company on the verge of bankruptcy and brought Steve Jobs back into power.

The crisis lead to that well-remembered occasion in 1997 when Michael Dell famously quipped to a crowd that, if he were in charge of Apple, he would "shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders".

Dell's market cap currently sits at $51bn.