1. Neck and neck - extremely close competition or contest
in e.g Kim Yuna and Mao Asada are NECK AND NECK in most of their careers.
2. Buoyed - lifted up of improve
in e.g My spirits were BUOYED by the good news.
3. Iconic - a widely known symbol
in e.g Mt. Fuji is an ICONIC symbol of Japan.
4. Skyrocket - to increase quickly to a very high level or amount
in e.g Justine Bieber's perfume sales SKYROCKETED.
5. Surge - to suddenly increase to an unusually high level
in e.g Oil prices SURGE as Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz.
Apple Briefly World’s Most Valuable Company
Apple Inc., the innovative and pioneering technology company, was briefly the world’s most valuable company on Wednesday. It went neck and neck for the top spot with the oil giant Exxon. At one point in the day’s trading, Apple’s shares went up six per cent on the Nasdaq exchange to put its market capitalisation at $446 billion. This was higher than Exxon’s $417 billion valuation.
However, at the close of trading, Exxon was up half a percentage point at $418 billion, slightly ahead of Apple, which went down to $416 billion. Apple’s figures were buoyed by news of its record profits in the last quarter of 2011. It made $13 billion in profit on $46 billion in sales. Analysts predict Apple will soon overtake Exxon.
Apple’s success has been phenomenal. It was struggling to make a profit fifteen years ago but experienced an incredible revival of fortunes after co-founder Steve Jobs took over as CEO in 1997. He turned the company round with iconic products like the iPod, iMac, iPhone and iPad, which helped the company’s profits skyrocket.
The past three months is one of the most profitable ever for an American company. In that period, it overtook Hewlett Packard as the world’s biggest computer maker and took in more revenue than Google. Apple’s profit per employee now exceeds $400,000 a year. The introduction of the iCloud and soaring demand for the iPhone 5 this year should see the company’s value continue to surge.
link: http://breakingnewsenglish.com/1201/120126-apple.html
