Today the Korea Joongang Daily and other media are reporting that Samsung Electronics has become the fifth most valuable firm among its market peers, according to market capitalization.The total market cap of the world’s second-largest mobile phone maker stood at $136.9 billion as of last Friday, only trailing Apple, Microsoft, IBM and Google, according to the data compiled by local financial sources.
Samsung’s market cap surpassed that of Oracle, the world’s No. 2 software firm, by $5.9 billion.
Today also happens to be the day on which North Korea is observing the funeral ceremony for its former leader, Kim Jong Il. To put the size of Samsung Electronics in some perspective, it is interesting to note that the most recent estimates suggest that North Korea's gross domestic produce in 2010 was just over $26 billion. In other words, Samsung Electronics has a value over five times that of the North Korean economy.