apple has finally been accepted to join america’s oldest and most prestigious stock index, the dow jones industrial average the company   worth more than $700 billion   will replace telecom giant at&t on the list with the switch taking effect after trading closes on wednesday, march 18 there are only 30 companies listed on the dow jones   a price weighted average of the biggest stocks    but for a long time apple was excluded from the pile because its stock price was too high and there was worry it would distort the balance apple has finally been accepted to join america’s oldest and most prestigious stock index, the dow jones industrial average  however, following apple's big stock split last summer, this is no longer a problem the company increased the number of shares it had to reduce the unit price from around $645  to $91 currently the price rests around $130 with apple's entry at&t will leave the dow jones david blitzer, managing director and chairman of the index committee at s&p dow jones indices, said there was no need to have two big telecom companies in the equation verizon, which has a bigger stock price and larger market value, is in the dow too it will step in to lead the sector with apple's entry at&t will leave the dow jones with verizon representing the telecoms sector instead  the last big shake up of the 119 year old dow came in september, 2013 when goldman sachs, nike and visa knocked out alcoa, bank of america and hewlett packard with news of the upcoming changes, apple's stock rose $255, or two per cent, to $12899 in early trading on friday at&t sank 46 cents, or 14 per cent, to $3354 apple holds a market capitalization of about $736 billion, making it the largest publicly traded company in the world at&t, by contrast, has a market value of $1765 billion
at&t wednesday, march 18 apple last year
the company will replace telecom giant at&t on the list with the switch taking effect after trading closes on wednesday, march 18 . there are only 30 companies listed on the dow jones   a price weighted average of the biggest stocks . for a long time apple was excluded from the pile because its stock price was too high and there was worry it would distort the balance . however, following apple's stock split last year, this is no longer a problem 