If You Invested $1000 in Apple in the ‘80s, You Would Have a Fortune Today!

As the sages say, the early bird catches the worm. Perhaps this might just be the case if you had bought $1000 worth of Apple shares in December 1980 during Apple’s initial public offering. Indeed, you would now be sitting comfortably on $500,000 today!

Which shows that if you had gambled on Apple during its earlier days, you would be reaping the benefits big time today.

A Strong Share Price

The aforementioned price also factors in features such as dividends and price appreciation. On Tuesday last week, the company that has grown significantly from its humble beginnings in the ‘80s also updated its set of products to include two iPad Pros and a brand new MacBook Air.

That being said, it is too early to predict whether the new products will be worth their high-end prices.

Despite Apple’s impressive performance in terms of its stock, it is worth noting that a stock can under-perform or over-perform, and the presence of past returns is not a strong indicator of results to come in the future.

Apple’s IPO was carried out in December 1980 and 4.6 million shares were up for grabs

The Growth of a Company from Its Early Days

Apple was first started by Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne, and Steve Wozniak in 1976. Unfortunately, Wayne made the decision to exit the company two weeks after it was founded.

The company’s first client was a computer store by the name The Byte Ship which was located in Bay Area. The shop had made an order of about 50 Apple I computers. To finalize the end of the contract, Jobs went as far as getting a loan of $15,000.

Indeed, the company expanded from there and in June 1977, the Apple II was released. The new model was mind-blowing at the time because it came with increased memory as well as colored graphics.

As per the statement written by Byte Magazine columnist Wozniak, the personal computer was an ingenuity that needed to be inexpensive, convenient for use, small and reliable.

As a result of its subsequent successes, Apple went public in December of 1980. The Wall Street Journal described the affair, stating it as one of the most eagerly anticipated IPO’s in years.

As per EDN reports, once the shares were up for purchase, the company’s 4.6 million shares that were going for $22 per share were sold out immediately.

Indeed, the stock increased by more than 30 percent, the same day. In the end, the IPO closed at $29 per share. Additionally, the IPO resulted in the springing up of more than 300 millionaires that day, as well as multiple Apple employees. According to EDN, the IPO was the one that created more millionaires than any other company in the world.

Moreover, in that IPO alone, Jobs amassed a wealth of over $200 million.

The company has been at the forefront of some of the most innovative products such as the iPhone X and X Max

Building a Legacy

Indeed, the Apple legacy has been one of tough albeit successful ventures. That being said, a recent string of successes has seen the company raise itself to the pinnacles of success by becoming the first public company in the history of the United States to hit the $1 trillion market cap after its stock reached a value of $207.05 per share.

The company has even surpassed the e-commerce giant Amazon.

Nevertheless, the journey to such heights of success has had its series of ups and downs. For example, Apple in 1985 faltered in the market, and fell tremendously behind companies such as Microsoft.

This was due to a series of failed products that did not do so favorably with the consumer market.

Steve Jobs is highly credited for Apple’s tremendous success in the past 2 decades.

The Leadership of Jobs

By 1997, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy and had to retrench some of its employees. In a last show of desperation, the company looked to Steve Jobs for guidance and named him as their interim CEO.

His first step in office was to veto all the production plans that the company had set and restructure the company to aim at simplicity with its future projects. Under the leadership of Jobs, the company released the iMac G3 in 1998, which enabled the company to gain a decent footing in the market.

Additionally, Jobs followed this release with the iPod in 2001. Nevertheless, the most revolutionary release by the company came in 2007, when the company released the iPhone in 2007.

To date, it is the company’s top-selling product and has been a revolution in the mobile industry.