Columbia Journalism Review:

The big market news today is about Apple’s gargantuan market capitalization reaching a new, stunning high. There’s a big problem with all of the headlines: They’re all false.Apple is not the biggest or most valuable company in history—not by a longshot. That’s because the press is overlooking reality for the apparently irresistible pull of a headline that includes “Apple” and “record” = pageview gold.Apple’s $622 billion market cap is a nominal record, which means “in name only,” or alternatively, not really. That’s because it’s a record only if you don’t adjust Microsoft’s 1999 market cap for inflation.

Keep this story in mind next time you read of something or other achieving “record” status. Always question the numbers and where they come from.