Background and History
Apple Computers Company was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne on 1st April 1976. However, Ronald Wayne backed out of the venture 12 days later, selling his holding of 10% for just pittance US$ 800, which could have been more than US$ 100 billion today. Since Steve Jobs was working intermittently in the Apple orchards up in the Oregon, both the founders could not think of a better name than Apple proposed by Jobs. Apple logo was settled at a bite out of an Apple design, which could be linked to the Adam and Eve story from the old testament. The idea behind Apple logo also symbolizes knowledge.
Apple Computers, Inc. was incorporated on January 3, 1977. The first product of the Apple Computers Company was named Apple I followed by an innovative Apple II in 1977. Both the products were brainchild of Woznaik. The company went public in December 1980 at a price of US$ 22 per share when 4.6 million shares were sold, thereby generating more than US$ 100 million. Net sales of the company went up to US$ 117 million in 1980 from a meagre US$ 0.77 million in 1977. In 1985, Steve Jobs resigned to form new company NeXT. In 1997, Apple CEO Gil Amelio bought NeXT, bringing Steve Jobs back. Steve Jobs gained leadership status in 2000 by becoming CEO of the Apple company.
Products and Services
Steve Jobs come back led to the success of the company when new products iPods & iTunes Store launch, and Intel Transition took place from 2001 to 2007. The major products launched from 2007 to 2011 were iPhone, iOS and iPad besides renaming company to Apple Inc. Steve Jobs resigned from his CEO position in August 2011 when Tim Cook took over. Subsequently, restructuring took place in October 2012, for enhanced collaboration between hardware, software and services. Every year new innovative versions of iPhone series are getting launched. The new product Apple watch was released in April 2015. The other products include Apple TV, Home Pod, iLife, iWork, LogicPro, GarageBand and Siri.
Apple has an employee strength of 1.37 lakh, and having 9 subsidiaries. The services constitute App Store, App Arcade, Apple Music, Apple Card, Apple TV, Apple Books, Apple Pay, iMessage, iCloud, iTune Store and Mac App Store. These services are rendered through 511 retail stores across 25 countries. More than 1.5 billion Apple products are being used actively worldwide. The company possess high level of brand loyalty and is one of the most valuable brands in the world.
Financial and Valuations
Apple Computers had reached a turnover of US$ 11 billion in 1995, which came down to US$ 8 billion in 2000 when Steve Jobs returned. Sales turnover dropped further and remained below US 8 billion until 2003 i.e. for 3 subsequent years. Thereafter, there was no looking back when turnover reached US$ 14 billion in 2005; US$ 65 billion in 2010; US$ 234 billion in 2015; and US$ 260 billion in 2019. The total assets of the company stood at US$ 338 billion in 2019 whereas net profit was US$ 55 billion on an equity base of US$ 90 billion.
The Apple stock split took place thrice in June 1987; June 2000; and February 2005 in the ratio of 2 for 1. Apple bought back shares worth US$ 10 billion in 2013 fiscal year. Apple became 2nd company 3 days back, in the world to fetch a valuation in excess of US$ 2 trillion; US$ 2127 billion to be precise. The first one being Saudi Aramco, which got listed last year and went on to cross milestone of US$ 2 trillion. The 2nd most valuable company Saudi Aramco is not listed on US stock exchanges; 3rd is Amazon (US$ 1645 billion) followed closely by Microsoft (US$ 1615 billion) at 4th position, and 5th most valuable company is Alphabet (US$ 1073 billion). The valuation of Apple Computers was US$ 200 billion in 2010; US$ 775 billion approx in 2015; Apple Inc became first US company when it reached a milestone of US$ 1 trillion in August 2018. The Apple stock price closed at US$ 497 on Friday.
Last but not the least, what does it mean for Apple Inc. It's valuation has soared past GDP of host of countries notably, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Canada, Russia, Australia, UAE, South Korea, Norway, Switzerland among others.
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