Steve Jobs and Apple’s prolonged history in seven fast facts
Barron's Senior Editor Jack Hough and Wall Street Journal Editorial Page Deputy Director Dan Henninger on Apple.
April 1976 – The Start
Apple Computers, Inc. was founded by Steve Jobs and his business partner Steve Wozniak in a Silicon Valley garage.
FILE - In this April 24, 1984 file photo, Steve Jobs, left, chairman of Apple Computers, John Sculley, center, president and CEO, and Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, unveil the new Apple IIc computer in San Francisco, Calif. (AP Photo/Sal Veder, …
December 1980 – IPO
Apple goes public, pricing its IPO of 4.6 million shares at $22 per share. Today the stock is hovering at an all-time high trading above $200 per share.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAPL | APPLE INC. | 210.62 | -3.48 | -1.63% |
September 1985 – Jobs pushed out
Jobs leaves Apple after losing a power struggle with then CEO John Sculley, who he helped recruit from Pepsi.
November 1995 – Pixar windfall
Jobs becomes a billionaire when animation studio Pixar, which Apple acquired, goes public. In 2006, The Walt Disney company purchased the studio for over $7 billion. Today, ‘The Laurene Powell Jobs Trust’, named for his wife, is Disney’s third largest shareholder.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DIS | THE WALT DISNEY CO. | 99.18 | -2.98 | -2.92% |
September 1997 – Jobs returns
Jobs returns to Apple as the company flounders against rivals including Microsoft as the tech boom is taking off.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSFT | MICROSOFT CORP. | 446.95 | -5.90 | -1.30% |
Apple Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, introduces the iPhone x during a launch event in Cupertino, California, U.S. September 12, 2017. REUTERS/Stephen Lam
January 2007 – iPhone is born
The very first iPhone is unveiled to the public. iPhone sales account for at least 60% of Apple’s annual revenue, according to Statista. Today the iPhone X (10) is the latest generation of the device and it retails for around $1,000.
August 2018 - $1 trillion mark
Apple, now run by CEO Tim Cook, is the world’s most valuable company with a market value that briefly reached $1 trillion on Thursday. It has $243.7 billion cash on hand, the most of any Fortune 500 company. A $1 trillion market cap value, approximately equates to the combined net worth of 21 members of Forbes 2017 list of the World's Billionaires.
Sources: Cult of Mac, Forbes, Statista