Apple's Real Estate More Valuable Than The White House?

[Michael Essany]

As President Obama delivers the final State of The Union address of his first term tonight, some in the tech space have a much bigger question about The White House than any policy originating from it: how could The White House only be worth as much as one Apple store?

This provocative suggestion surfaced early Tuesday as reports indicated that on a per-square-foot basis, Apple's retail space is virtually identical in value with that of the White House.

It's almost a tie. Apple sells an annual average of $4,709 worth of merchandise per square foot in its hundreds of stores across the world. Meanwhile, the presidential mansion in Washington is valued at $4,752 per square foot, according to real estate website Zillow.

"Apple in a few short years has gone from having not any retail presence at all to top-10 and heading north," Craig Johnson, CEO of research firm Customer Growth Partners, tells CNN.

Some will naturally see the comparison between an Apple Store and The White House as absurd (hey, don't shoot the messenger), but the reality of Apple's value per square foot certainly illustrates in a highly creative manner just how valuable the company is - although we didn't really need any more evidence after today's earnings report.

Source: CNN

[rkswat]

Best quote of the entire post: "Some will naturally see the comparison between an apple store and the White House as absurd"..... yes it is. The worth of the whitehouse isn't in dollars and cents, it's in the history of this country and what it stands for, or used to anyway.

[domenicp]

Best quote of the entire post: "Some will naturally see the comparison between an apple store and the White House as absurd"..... yes it is. The worth of the whitehouse isn't in dollars and cents, it's in the history of this country and what it stands for, or used to anyway.

I vote for absurd.

[Ambi_Valence]

History of this country......Are they still treating the native peoples equally then?

[no1stunna2k]

History of this country......Are they still treating the native peoples equally then?

I vote for this quote!!

[sziklassy]

Best quote of the entire post: "Some will naturally see the comparison between an apple store and the White House as absurd"..... yes it is. The worth of the whitehouse isn't in dollars and cents, it's in the history of this country and what it stands for, or used to anyway.

I agree wholeheartedly. What a silly comparison.