It is no secret that Russian leader Vladimir Putin aspires to be a poster boy of virility, and that he scorns those who are not macho men.
Putin has set such a tone in Russia that citizens felt compelled to move quickly to dismantle a monument in St. Petersburg to Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs soon after the company’s current CEO, Tim Cook, came out of the closet recently.
But before Putin and Russians become so contemptuous, it might be worthwhile to keep in mind one simple fact: Apple’s market capitalization currently exceeds that of all the publicly held companies in Russia combined, according to Bloomberg.
As of November 12, the total market capitalization of all public companies in the Russian Federation has fallen $234 billion to $531 billion in 2014, while Apple gained $147 billion to $652 billion, Bloomberg reported. According to the Russian government news agency TASS, as of November 14, the situation was even gloomier for Russia, with the Russian stock exchange value slumping to $498 billion, while Apple Inc. reached the record capitalization of $668 billion.
“If you owned Apple Inc., and sold it, you could purchase the entire stock market of Russia, and still have enough change to buy every Russian an iPhone 6 Plus,” a Bloomberg commentary noted, wryly.
Western sanctions against Russia – imposed because of the Kremlin’s land grab in Crimea, and continuing meddling in eastern Ukraine – have seriously dented the Russian economy. The ruble has collapsed, stoking inflation, while falling oil prices have decimated export revenue. Many economists warn Russia is in danger of slipping into recession.
The net profit of Gazprom, the Kremlin’s main cash cow, has fallen to a meager 35.8 billion rubles ($756 million at today’s rate of exchange) during the first three quarters of 2014 compared to 466.6 billion rubles ($13.7 billion at the October 2013 rate of exchange) during the same period in 2013. That marks an 18-fold decline in revenue, the Russian news website Lenta.ru reported.
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