NASDAQ Marketsite (Photo : Reuters/Keith Bedford)
Facebook's $306 billion market value is now higher than General Electric (GE), whose long history can be traced back to Thomas Edison and the first long-lasting electric light bulb. The oil giant Exxon Mobil and Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway are the United States' only two industrial blue chips worth over $300 billion. Apple, Google, and Microsoft hold the nation's top market values, representing Wall Street's shift in the Digital Age. Mark Zuckerberg's social network is on the heels of Amazon, valued at $307 billion.
Facebook's value rose 5 percent to close at $108.75 per share. Meanwhile, GE's value changed slightly, ending the trading day at about $300 billion.
The tech revolution started with companies such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard several years ago. Facebook became a publically-traded company in 2012.
On November 4, Wednesday, the social network reported third quarter (Q3) net earnings of $896 million. It was based on gross revenue of $4.6 billion.
Investors believe that Facebook's long-term earnings will be higher than GE. That will be through expanding its global social network and then using its connections to earn ad revenue.
Facebook also now averages 8 billion daily video views, up from its 4 billion daily views per day in April, according to Tech Crunch. A "view" is defined as at least 3 seconds of watching clips.
Nicole Sherrod is a managing director at TD Ameritrade. She shared that Facebook is now Wall Street's second-most widely owned stock, according to CNBC.
Facebook was co-founded in 2004 and was based on Mark Zuckerberg's program Facemash. Meanwhile, GE was created in 1892 with the merger that included Edison General Electric.
