valuable

For much of the last 16 years, the stock market has been unstoppable. With the exception of the five-week COVID-19 crash in February-March 2020, and the roughly nine-month bear market in 2022, the bulls have been in firm control on Wall Street.

The catalyst for this ongoing outperformance primarily rests with Wall Street’s trillion-dollar businesses. Think Nvidia (NVDA 0.27%) and Apple, as well as newer trillion-dollar club members Broadcom and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, which is also known as TSMC.

All told, just 11 publicly traded companies have ever reached a $1 trillion market cap, not accounting for the effects of inflation, and 10 trade on U.S. exchanges. This includes all members of the “Magnificent Seven,” along with Broadcom, TSMC, and billionaire Warren Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway.

Image source: Getty Images.

While Nvidia appears to have the inside path to retaining its current title as Wall Street’s most valuable public company by the turn of the decade, another Mag Seven member is ideally positioned to dethrone Nvidia and leapfrog the likes of Apple and Microsoft along the way.

Despite its AI dominance, Nvidia’s spot atop the trillion-dollar pedestal is far from secure

As of the closing bell on Sept. 24, artificial intelligence (AI) titan Nvidia clocked in with a market cap north of $4.3 trillion. It’s the first public company to have reached the $4 trillion mark, and is believed to have a chance to surpass a $6 trillion valuation, based on the price targets of Wall Street’s most optimistic analysts.

This optimism stems from Nvidia’s dominant position as the leader in AI graphics processing units (GPUs) deployed in enterprise data centers. Three generations of advanced AI chips — Hopper (H100), Blackwell, and now Blackwell Ultra — have enjoyed insatiable demand and extensive order backlogs.

Aside from clear-cut compute advantages, Nvidia’s AI hardware benefits from a persistent lack of AI GPU supply. As long as enterprise demand overwhelms available hardware, Nvidia is going to have no trouble charging a premium for its GPUs and netting a gross margin in excess of 70%.

While these competitive edges would imply that Nvidia’s spot atop the trillion-dollar pedestal is secure, historical precedent would beg to differ.

One of the prime threats to Wall Street’s largest public company is that every next-big-thing trend dating back more than three decades has eventually navigated its way through a bubble-bursting event early in its expansion. This is to say that investors consistently overestimate the early adoption and real-world utility of next-big-thing innovations. Though AI has undeniable long-term applications, most businesses are nowhere close to optimizing these solutions at present, or have yet to net a positive return on their AI investments.

Competition is something that can’t be ignored, either. Even with external competitors lagging Nvidia in compute ability, there’s a very real possibility of Wall Street’s AI darling losing out on valuable data center real estate and/or being undermined by delayed AI GPU upgrade cycles.

Many of Nvidia’s largest customers by net sales are developing AI GPUs to deploy in their data centers. Though these chips won’t be competing with Nvidia’s hardware externally, they’re considerably cheaper to build and more readily accessible. It’s a recipe for Nvidia’s competitive edge to dwindle in the coming years, and for Wall Street’s AI kingpin to cede its title as the most valuable public company.

Image source: Amazon.

This will be Wall Street’s most valuable public company come 2030

Although Apple or Microsoft would seem to be logical choices to reclaim the top spot that both companies have previously held, dual-industry leader Amazon (AMZN 0.78%) is the trillion-dollar stock that looks to have the best chance to become Wall Street’s most valuable company by 2030.

The operating segment that typically introduces consumers to Amazon is its online marketplace. According to estimates from Analyzify, Amazon’s e-commerce segment accounts for a 37.6% share of U.S. online retail sales. Amazon’s spot as the leading e-commerce giant isn’t threatened — although its operating margin associated with online retail sales tends to be razor thin.

While Amazon’s retail operations provide a face for the company, it’s a trio of considerably higher-margin ancillary segments that’ll be responsible for bulking up the company’s operating cash flow in the years to come.

Nothing has more bearing on Amazon’s long-term success than cloud infrastructure platform Amazon Web Services (AWS). Tech analysis firm Canalys pegged its share of worldwide cloud infrastructure spend at 32% during the second quarter, which is nearly as much as Microsoft’s Azure and Alphabet‘s Google Cloud on a combined basis.

AWS has been growing by a high-teens percentage on a year-over-year basis, excluding currency movements. The thinking here is that the inclusion of generative AI solutions and large language model capabilities for AWS clients will only enhance the growth rate for AWS.

As of the June-ended quarter, AWS was pacing more than $123 billion in annual run-rate revenue. Most importantly, AWS is responsible for almost 58% of Amazon’s operating income through the first half of 2025 despite accounting for less than 19% of net sales. Even if an AI bubble forms and bursts, application providers like AWS can weather the storm.

The other pieces of the puzzle for Amazon are advertising services and subscription services. When you’re drawing billions of people to your site monthly, it’s not difficult to command exceptional ad-pricing power.

It also doesn’t hurt that Amazon has landed exclusive streaming partnerships with the National Football League and National Basketball Association. When coupled with e-commerce shipping perks and exclusive shopping events, Amazon has plenty of pricing power with its Prime subscription.

Finally, Amazon is historically inexpensive. From 2010 to 2019, Amazon closed out each year between 23 and 37 times trailing-12-month cash flow. Based on Wall Street’s consensus, Amazon’s cash flow per share is forecast to grow from a reported $11.04 in 2024 to $27.52 in 2029.

In other words, Amazon is valued at only 8 times projected cash flow in 2029, which means it can reasonably add $2.5 trillion to $4 trillion in market value from here and still be trading at a significant discount to its average cash flow multiple during the 2010s.

A decade ago, the languishing St. Louis Rams were ranked dead last in the NFL with a franchise valuation of $930 million.

Faced with an unappealing stadium lease and dwindling prospects in St. Louis, the Rams turned their attention westward, toward their Los Angeles roots. Quietly, they acquired two parcels of land at the former Hollywood Park racetrack in Inglewood, where they would eventually build SoFi Stadium, a state-of-the-art venue that would redefine the franchise and reshape the NFL’s footprint in Los Angeles.

Today, according to Sportico rankings released Wednesday, the Rams are valued at $10.43 billion, second only to the Dallas Cowboys at $12.88 billion.

This valuation comes a month after CNBC ranked Stan Kroenke’s portfolio of teams — the Rams, the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, NHL’s Colorado Avalanche and Premier League’s Arsenal — the most valuable in sports at $21.2 billion.

Cowboys chief operating officer Stephen Jones, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Rams owner Stan Kroenke talk before a preseason game at SoFi Stadium Saturday. The Cowboys and Rams are the two most valuable NFL franchises, according to a new Sportico report.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

The Rams join the Lakers as the city’s second sports franchise with a valuation of at least $10 billion. The latter was based on an actual sale. In June, the Buss family entered into an agreement to sell majority ownership of the Lakers to Dodgers owner Mark Walter for a franchise valuation of approximately $10 billion.

The Chargers, who are tenants at Kroenke’s stadium, are 21st on the Sportico list at $6.2 billion, one spot up from last year.

The valuations are based on the team itself, along with any businesses and real estate holdings related to the team.

David Carter, principal at The Sports Business Group and adjunct professor of sports business at USC, said teams are usually valued based on a multiple of their annual revenue, and that valuation also takes into account the likelihood of future revenue growth.

“For Kroenke and the Rams, this has always meant monetizing SoFi in as many ways possible, while simultaneously positioning the venue as a global leader in sports and entertainment,” he wrote in an email to the Times. “Having accomplished this, and with the team’s strong fan bases – both traditional and corporate – the recipe is in place to continue to achieve high valuations, especially when you also consider the team’s competitiveness of late.”

Attaching a number to these teams is largely an academic exercise, because the only true test comes when they are sold — and those sales are rare.

Three NFL franchises have changed hands in the past 10 years: the Washington Commanders (2023), Denver Broncos (2022) and Carolina Panthers (2018).

Writes Sportico’s Kurt Badenhausen: “Scarcity is a major driver in pushing team values higher, as more billionaires are minted each year and franchises are rarely added.”

Carter said the NFL franchise valuations published by Sportico and others aren’t entirely accurate because they don’t fully reflect the supply and demand for teams at any given time.

“The ultimate price, should a team be sold, will be determined by factors in real time,” he wrote, “such as how many bidders there are and how many teams are for sale at the time. This typically results in franchises being sold for more than the reported value calculated by the trade press. Nonetheless, these valuations serve as an important data point to those in the industry.”

As for the Rams, their valuation matters more directionally than numerically, reflecting success and stability in Los Angeles more than a specific price tag.

“As we enter our 10th season back in Los Angeles, Stan Kroenke’s vision to create the world’s greatest sports and entertainment district at Hollywood Park – and to build one of the NFL’s greatest stadiums – continues to help build the profile of the Rams and the NFL,” said Kevin Demoff, president of team and media operations for Kroenke Sports and Entertainment.

“While these rankings may reflect that, the focus remains on building great teams and a district that Angelenos can enjoy, more than focusing on valuations.”

A former Miami Heat security officer has been accused in federal court of stealing millions of dollars worth of team memorabilia — including a game-worn LeBron James jersey from the 2013 NBA Finals — and selling them to online brokers.

Appearing Wednesday at U.S. Superior Court for the Southern District of Florida, retired Miami police officer Marcus Thomas Perez pleaded not guilty to the felony charge of transporting and transferring stolen goods in interstate commerce.

Perez, 62, faces up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. His attorney, Robert Buschel, declined to comment when asked on Wednesday by The Times.

According to a press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and the Miami field office of the FBI, Perez worked on game-day security detail for the Heat from 2016-2021, and later worked as an NBA security employee from 2022-2025.

While employed by the Heat, the press release states, Perez “was among a limited number of trusted individuals with access to a secured equipment room” where “hundreds of game-worn jerseys and other memorabilia” were being stored to be displayed at a future Heat museum.

“During his employment, Perez accessed the equipment room multiple times to steal over 400 game-worn jerseys and other items, which he then sold to various online marketplaces,” the press release states. “Over a three-year period, Perez sold over 100 stolen items for approximately $2 million and shipped them across state lines, often for prices well below their market value.”

One example listed in the press release is the jersey that James wore in Game 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals, during which the Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs 95-88 to win their second straight championship. Perez allegedly sold the jersey for around $100,000; it was sold in an online auction for $3.7 million in 2023.

In executing a search warrant at Perez’s home April 3, law enforcement “seized nearly 300 additional stolen game-worn jerseys and memorabilia,” all of which the Heat confirmed had been stolen from their facility, according to the press release.

Published on
04/07/2025 – 10:57 GMT+2

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The AI chipmaker Nvidia’s shares hit a new all-time high on Thursday, briefly giving the company a market capitalisation of $3.92 trillion (€3.33tn), the highest in history for any company.

This surpassed Apple’s record of $3.91tr set in December 2024, even though Nvidia’s market capitalisation dipped once again below this level at market close. 

The chipmaker’s shares traded as high as $160.98 at their peak on Thursday, before the price dipped below this level, placing the market capitalisation at around $3.89tr when daily trading wrapped up.

Tech companies’ shares benefitted from a better-than-expected nonfarm payrolls report in the US, an indicator of a resilient US economy.

This optimism was boosted by forecasts that businesses would continue to spend on AI advances, boosting demand for AI chips.

Nvidia shares are up more than 50% in just less than two months. Analysts expect that the company will break the valuation record soon and retain its elevated share price by the close of the trading day.

“Chip giant Nvidia is on track to achieve a new closing high,” said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, adding that the “AI revolution is still intact”.

AJ Bell head of financial analysis Danni Hewson added that, “After all the gloomy predictions that this might be the year the AI bubble bursts, Nvidia’s found another gear. The chipmaker is on track to smash a coveted record and become the world’s most valuable company ever.”

The value of Nvidia currently is more than three times the total market capitalisation of the stock market in Spain and more than four times that of the Italian stock exchange.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe initiated cost-saving measures after he became a minority owner of the club last year.

Last summer, around 250 staff were made redundant, saving the club an estimated £8m-£10m. A further 200 staff could lose their jobs this summer.

In March, United revealed plans for a new £2bn stadium on the site of Old Trafford.

Real top the rankings with a value of $6.75bn and revenue of $1.129bn, while Barcelona are third.

Manchester City boasted the second largest revenue in 23-24 ($901m), but are fifth in terms of total value ($5.3bn), a 4% rise on the previous year.

Liverpool are the fourth most valuable football club in the world with a value of $5.4bn) and a revenue of $773m in 23-24.

Forbes’ team valuations are enterprise values (equity plus net debt) based on historical transactions and the future economics of each league and each team.

Revenue and operating income – such as earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization – reflect the 23-24 campaign.

The team values include the economics of each team’s stadium but not the value of the stadium real estate itself.

Debt is measured in terms of interest-bearing borrowings due in more than one year (including stadium debt).

Forbes’ valuations came from club annual reports and documents, team executives, investors, credit rating agency reports and sports bankers.