The 4 Days When $VWAGY Was The Biggest Company In The World Thanks to $GME and $AMC, thousands of everyday people now know what the phrase "Short Squeeze" is. But most people don't know that a short squeeze made $VWAGY, that unassuming maker of your grandparent's favorite car, the most valuable company on the planet. More than $AAPL, more than $MSFT--THE entire planet. These four wild days came in the middle of the 2008 financial crisis. Fellow carmaker $POAHY announced that it had taken a majority stake in $VWAGY, which many thought was privately owned. The luxury company then announced that short positions were much higher than anticipated and the feeding frenzy started. Short sellers rushed to buy more to cover their options and the $VWAGY stock climbed to over €1000 in intraday trading. (By the way, €1000 in 2008 is about $1400 today.) The rest is history: some hedge funds lost billions of dollars. Some people got very rich. And within four days the fever broke and the stock fell 58%. But for one brief period, there was no company on earth as valuable as $VWAGY. Not even short sellers could beat the Beetle.