Facebook bigger than AT&T, Coca-Cola in market value

In the days after its infamously mishandled initial public offering in May 2012, it looked as if Facebook would struggle to become a must-own for fund managers. Now the company's $190 billion market value makes it bigger than such bellwethers as Coca-Cola and AT&T. It's not a member of the Dow industrials, but if it were, it would be larger than two-thirds of that index's 30 members.

Shares of the world's No. 1 social network touched a record high of $76.74 on Thursday after earnings and revenues easily topped analysts' forecasts, boosting its market value to nearly $194 billion. That ranks it 15th in the Standard & Poor's 500 benchmark index, just below the $196 billion market cap of International Business Machines.

The speed of Facebook's rise to mega-cap status is what's notable. It took Apple nearly three decades to achieve such a market value; Google needed five years. Facebook's rally has left e-commerce giant Amazon in the dust. That company's value peaked around $187 billion in January, but closed Thursday at $165 billion. Amazon reported disappointing results afterwards, which dragged down its stock by 7%, valuing the company around $153 billion.