Apple became the planet's most valuable tech giant Wednesday when its stock value rose 1.8 percent, making the company worth $227.1 billion, ahead of Microsoft's $226.3 billion. ExxonMobil is the only American company with a higher market capitalization, with $282 billion. Just 10 years ago, Apple was "given up for dead," The New York Times reports. The shift is largely thanks to consumer demand now trumping those of business in pushing the direction of technological innovation. A venture capitalist described the shift as the "single most important turnaround that I have seen in Silicon Valley."
