That Apple's kingdom is a lucrative beast is pretty much clear by now and numbers don’t lie. The company hit $500 billion in stock market value on Wednesday.

Apple has already been dubbed the world’s most valuable company and now, it’s one of top five ever. In fact, the only companies that managed to pull this off are Microsoft, ExxonMobil, Cisco, General Electric and Intel.

Apparently, Apple’s worth more than the GDPs of Poland, Belgium, Sweden, Saudi Arabia or Taiwan. It could even bail out Greece and still be left with some $50 billion to spare.

Interestingly enough, the company’s stock gains have not kept up with earnings and analysts believe its shares are still cheap.

More here.