Who'd have thought that two college dropouts, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, and later joined by Ronald Wayne would one day become the co-founders of the largest company by market capitalization, that is, $3.004 trillion? Well, most people didn't at the time, but fast forward four decades and here we are.
Apple Inc. AAPL had its initial public offering or IPO 43 years ago today. At the time, Cupertino offered shares at $22 each. The company today has billions of users worldwide, around 160,000 full-time employees and gains $383.28 billion in annual revenue.
However, the question today is, how much an investor would have made, had they put $1000 in Apple at the time of its IPO?
According to the above graph, the $1000 investment would have resulted in a fortune, as the person would now have $1,524,838.86. In comparison, the Nasdaq would have returned $75,326.69 during the similar period while the S&P 500 investment had resulted in $35,629.27 returns.
The Fortune Doesn't Mean The Road Was Easy
While it is true that the $1000 investment in Apple would have made an investor happy today, but only if they had stuck with it. Jobs unceremoniously left the company he co-founded in 1985 and the early 1990s turned out to be Apple’s darkest period.
As per Jobs, it was because of the policies of the then-company CEO John Scully, a PepsiCo veteran who was ironically brought in by the late Apple founder.
Jobs was quoted in his biography by Walter Isaacson saying, "My passion has been to build an enduring company where people were motivated to make great products. Everything else was secondary."
He added, "Sure, it was great to make a profit, because that was what allowed you to make great products. But the products, not the profits, were the motivation. Sculley flipped these priorities to where the goal was to make money."
Back in the early 1990s, Apple stock prices were dwindling while rival Microsoft Corporation MSFT was thriving. Microsoft had won the home computer war.
But, as we know, the story took a turn.
Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 and teamed up with Jony Ive — a brilliant designer who finally left the company in 2019.
With Jobs, Apple made a strong comeback in the new millennium. In 2001, Apple launched the iPod — the first easy-to-use MP3 player. This was accompanied by the iTunes Store — something which changed the way individuals accessed and purchased music.
Later in 2007, the company introduced the iPhone, which led to an unprecedented era of apps and services that ushered in the age of smartphones. The unveiling of the iPhone not only became iconic as it is one of the most profitable products of the company today but also resulted in sidelining the then-industry frontrunners Nokia and BlackBerry for good.
The legendary tech entrepreneur brought the company back from the brink of bankruptcy and converted it into the most valuable entity worldwide by market capitalization.
After Jobs passed away in 2011, Apple continued to thrive — proving the monumental impact of his leadership, even though the co-founder was famously tough to work with.
Apple's current CEO Tim Cook also credits Jobs with the company's growth.
Last month, in an episode of BBC’s “Dua Lipa: At Your Service” podcast, Cook said, “Steve was an original and I think only Steve could have created Apple. We owe him a debt of gratitude and there’s no doubt in my mind that if he were still alive today the company would be doing outstanding and he would still be CEO.”
Apple is currently hitting new highs in the stock market. The company's customer base also keeps growing worldwide.
While a lot of us may not have been a part of the Apple IPO, the journey of the company nevertheless is fascinating and thrilling.
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