The tech giant would easily be one of the richest people today if not for one decision back in 1985.
, On Wednesday September 28, 2011, 1:22 pm EDT
Small business owners and future entrepreneurs take note. If you thought starting and growing a business was easy for some, look no further than the story of Steve Jobs and Apple. It is a story of innovation that is so drama-filled that film studios have made big money producing made-for-TV dramas around it.
Apple
Steve Jobs as well as his two partners, Steve Wozniak and Mike Markkula, started with barely anything. In order to raise funds, Wozniak sold his prized calculator for US$250 and Steve Jobs sold his Volkswagen bus for $1,500. From there, more investors came on the scene. There were differences in opinion, and eventually Steve Jobs left to start his own company called NeXT Computers after being forced out of the company.
Although they wouldn't admit it, Apple quickly figured out that they needed Steve Jobs. In a interestingly timed acquisition, Apple purchased Jobs' company NeXT computers, bringing Jobs back to the company where he would later become CEO working for $1 per year in compensation.
How valuable was his initial $1,500 investment? When the stock went public on Dec. 12, 1980, Jobs owned 7.5 million shares. With an IPO price of $22 per share that makes his $1,500 investment in 1976 worth $217 million in 1980! Of course, the share price only went up from there. Since then Apple has done three two-for-one stock splits, essentially turning that $22 IPO price into a split adjusted price of $2.75. Doing a bit of math, we can assume Jobs would have had 78,909,091 shares of Apple. At a $400 share price today, Steve Jobs would be worth about $31.6 billion if he held all of his initial shares versus an estimated $2.2 billion in Apple stock today (at $400 with 5.426 million shares of Apple). Of course, we all know that didn't happen. When Jobs was ousted out of Apple in 1985 he sold all but one share so he could still get the annual report. It was not until he came back in 1997 that he was rewarded additional shares in Apple.
PixarIn 1986, Jobs made what might be the best investment of his life. For $5 million, Jobs bought a small animation company run by George Lucas called Pixar. It was barely a company. Instead, it was a group of animators who were becoming interested in computer generated 3D animation instead of the traditional animation cells. Nine years later, their movie, "Toy Story," was released to critical acclaim. This proved to be the perfect time to make Pixar a publicly traded company. In the same year, Pixar issued an IPO on the public market. On its first day it priced at $22 per share (the same as the Apple IPO) making Jobs a billionaire for the first time.
Later, Pixar was sold to Disney in a deal worth $7.4 billion or $59.76 per share netting Jobs 138 million shares of Disney stock today worth approximately $4.3 billion. Along with the sale of Pixar, Jobs gained a seat on the Disney board and increased his net worth to more than $5.1 billion at the time making him the 43rd richest American according to Forbes Magazine.
The Bottom LineAlthough Jobs recently resigned as CEO of Apple, he still holds seats on both the Apple and Disney board as well as creative influence on Apple products. Today, the largest part of his net worth comes from the sale of Pixar to Disney, with a total net worth of about $6.5 billion to $7 billion today. If he had not sold any of his Apple shares back in 1985, he would be worth an astonishing $36 billion placing him fifth on the Forbes "top billionaire list" compared to 110th today. Then again, money is not the key motivator for Steve.
Google Chrome Set To Pass Firefox As Second Most Used Web Browser Worldwide
Related Quotes
| Symbol | Price | Change |
|---|---|---|
| GOOG | 518.71 | -8.79 |
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, On Friday September 30, 2011, 10:29 am EDT
If Google Chrome's momentum continues, it will pass Mozilla Firefox this December and become the second most-used browser in the world, right behind Microsoft's Internet Explorer.
Current market share numbers are as follows, according to a ComputerWorld report based on StatCounter data: Chrome commands 23.6%, Firefox has 26.8%, while Internet Explorer has 41.7%.
What's more important is that since January 2011, Chrome's market share has gone up 50%, from 15.6% to 23.6%.
Firefox and IE market shares have declined since January 2011 (by 13% and 9%, respectively), and Chrome seems to be the only benefactor. At this rate, Chrome will match Firefox in November and pass it in market share in December.
Net Applications, another internet data company, isn't as optimistic, pointing to mid-2012 for when Chrome will pass Firefox. Still, both data companies agree about one thing: Firefox and IE are declining, while Chrome is making gains.
RIM says committed to PlayBook amid price cuts
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) dismissed a report on Thursday that it was pulling the plug on its PlayBook tablet computer.Thursday September 29, 2011
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) dismissed a report on Thursday that it was pulling the plug on its PlayBook tablet computer.
Major US retailers, meanwhile, slashed the price of the PlayBook by up to $200. The move comes a day after Amazon unveiled a tablet rival with a $199 price tag.
RIM stressed its commitment to the PlayBook after Collins Stewart analyst John Vihn said the Canadian company has stopped production of the device.
"Any suggestion that the BlackBerry PlayBook is being discontinued is pure fiction," RIM said. "RIM remains highly committed to the tablet market."
Sales of the PlayBook have been sluggish since the device went on sale in mid-April with a $499 price tag for the 16-gigabyte model, $599 for the 32GB version and $699 for the 64GB model.
Best Buy, Staples and Office Max were offering the PlayBook for $299, $399 and $499 on Thursday. Office Depot was selling the device for $100 off.
The PlayBook was still being offered for its original price at RIM's online store and through US carrier Sprint.
Amazon unveiled a tablet computer, the Kindle Fire, on Wednesday which costs $199, less than half the price of the market-leading iPad from Apple.
The cheapest iPad costs $499.
During its last quarterly earnings report RIM said it had shipped 200,000 PlayBooks in the quarter. Analysts had expected shipments of 700,000.
Apple sold 9.25 million iPads last quarter.
RIM shares have plunged recently as the Waterloo, Ontario-based company struggles to compete with Apple's iPhone and smartphones powered by Google's Android platform.
RIM shares, which have lost half of their value since the beginning of the year, shed 3.37 percent on Wall Street on Thursday to close at $21.16.
During an earnings call with analysts, RIM co-chief executive Mike Lazaridis said the past few quarters have been "challenging" but expressed confidence the company is "on track to return to growth in the third quarter and beyond."
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