Facebook becomes fifth U.S. Company to join $1 trillion club

On Monday, Facebook’s stock surpassed the $1 trillion mark for the first time after an antitrust court win enabled the firm’s shares to reach that level for the first time, making it the sixth US corporation to do so.

The social media giant’s stock rose 4.2 percent to $355.64 a share on Monday after a US federal court rejected two complaints filed against it by the Federal Trade Commission and a group of state attorneys general in December. In after-hours trading, Facebook’s shares continued to rise.

Lawsuit against Facebook

The judgment favouring Facebook (FB) is a blow for Washington authorities, who have been pursuing many of the major internet firms for potential antitrust violations.

The FTC’s assertions that Facebook has monopolistic power because it controls more than 60% of the social-networking industry were found to be unfounded by US District Judge James Boasberg in Washington. The antitrust and consumer protection agency, on the other hand, has 30 days to file a new case and try again. Separately, a court dismissed a case filed by 46 states contesting Facebook’s purchase of Instagram and WhatsApp, claiming that the plaintiffs had waited too long to file their allegations. Attorneys general in the states said that Facebook bought such firms to restrict competition from new social media competitors.

The complaints claim that Facebook’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp and its other acquisitions demonstrated a pattern of activity aimed at countering competitive threats.

Five Trillion Club

This is the first time that five stocks in the US market have a 13-digit value.

Apple (AAPL) is still the most valuable business globally, with a market capitalization of $2.249 trillion, followed by Microsoft (MSFT), with a market capitalization of $2.024 trillion. Amazon (AMZN) is worth $1.74 trillion, Alphabet (GOOGL), the parent company of Google (GOOGL), is worth $1.67 billion, and Facebook (FB) is worth $1.008 trillion. Last week, Microsoft’s market capitalization surpassed $2 trillion for the first time.

There is a significant decline in value after the five tech stocks. No other publicly traded stock in the United States comes close to the trillion-dollar threshold. Tencent (TCEHY) is valued at $740 billion; Tesla (TSLA) is valued at $663 billion; Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-A) is valued at $632 billion; Alibaba (BABA) is valued at $620 billion; Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) is valued at $620 billion, and Visa (V) is valued at $515 billion.

Keep in mind that Facebook is just over the $1 trillion thresholds, so even a little drop in FB shares today may result in the firm losing its Trillion-club membership.