A few decades ago no one thought that people would own personal computers. Because they were so costly and only businesses would use them. Moreover, no one knew if the general public needed them. If you look back a decade ago you will notice that your phones were not even close to what they are today. There were only limited functions that you could do using your cell phones. But today you can literally do anything that you can do using a computer. You can access the internet through it and get any type of information or services you need. If someone said that all of this was possible a decade ago you would not have believed it. However, today you can download all types of applications using your smartphone. Not only that you can watch movies and more importantly listen to music online. All of this is possible because one company is Apple.
This is a company that does not need any introduction. It is the richest company in the world. Apple has more liquid cash than the US government. Just by reading that you can understand how successful the company is today. Almost everyone wants to own an Apple device once in their lifetime. Apple has risen above the rest of the companies in terms of brand recognition. Today Apple products are not like other similar products they are considered to be a status symbol. The most important reason for Apple’s success is constant innovation. Right from the beginning, the company was pushing the boundaries of innovation and creativity. The man behind all of this is none other than Steve Jobs. This one name that people cannot separate from Apple. His contribution to the company’s success is enormous. For years people thought that he owned the company which is not true. Now that is gone people might wonder who exactly owns it. This article will tell you everything about that.
But before that let’s look at how it all started.
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History of Apple
The multinational tech company which has lots of money today had humble beginnings. Many people who have learned a little bit of Apple’s origin know that it all started in a garage. The company was founded by Steve Jobs, Ronald Wayne, and Steve Wozniak in 1976. Steve got the idea of making computers when he learned that Wozniak was good at building them. When they decided to make their first product they didn’t have enough money. So both Wozniak and Jobs have to sell some of their belongings to finance their project. Wozniak built their first Apple product Apple I which is a computer. They managed to build them for nearly $250 and sold them for $666.66. After that, the company became Apple computer Inc. Ronald Wayne was not part of the company as he already sold his shares to Steve Jobs. This is when things started to get serious.
After their initial success, Apple created Apple II which was different from Apple I as it open architecture and cell-based color graphics. By the 1980s Apple had a bunch of computer engineers and their own production line. Steve Jobs said that all the computers in the future would run on a graphical user interface and wanted Apple Lisa to have it. Steve Jobs also used this in the project managed by Wozniak that is Macintosh. Macintosh is the first-ever personal computer sold to the public. It failed to succeed as the price was which is opposite of what they originally intended. Due to this, they had to bear losses and the board wanted to limit Steve’s abilities. When Steve tried to remove John Sculley it backfired and instead, he was removed from the company he started. Wozniak also quit Apple in 1985 but represented the company at events for an annual stipend.
This is when Apple began to fall. It has ventured into various things. They wanted to sell cameras, TVs, speakers, video consoles, and others. It also lost a lawsuit against the Microsoft company in Apple claimed that Microsoft stole their idea. During this time John Sculley was replaced by Michael Spindler who was later replaced by Gil Amelio. While all of this was happening Steve founded another company called NeXT. Apple purchased NeXt due to which brought Steve Jobs back into Apple. Apple was on the brink of bankruptcy when Jobs returned to the company. iMac was the first successful product that was launched by the company after Steve’s return. They acquired SoundJam and remained it as iTunes in 2000. iPod was Apple’s answer to Walkman. That single device could hold thousands of songs which is a revolution. Apple release iPads using which you could download apps and use them. Then it ventured into smartphones and you know the rest of the story.
Who owns Apple?
Apple went public in 1980. So there are more people who own the shares of the company but let’s take a look at the top individual and institutional shareholders. Let’s start with the individual stakeholders.
Arthur Levinson
He is the current chairman of the company and he is also CEO of Calico. Arthur also worked as a chairman for the biotech company Genetech Inc. He owns 0.03% of the company which is nearly 1.13 million shares.
Tim Cook
If you know anything about Apple other than its products then you probably know that Tim Cook is the current CEO of the company. He took over as the CEO of the company after Steve Jobs passed away. He owns 0.02% of the total shares which is nearly 847,000 shares.
Al Gore
He is the individual that holds more stake after Arthur and Tim. AI Gore is the founder of the Climate Reality Project. He was the 45th vice President of the united states. He owns more than 113,000 shares which are not even 0.01% of the company.
Now let’s look at institutional shareholders.
BlackRock Inc
This is a mutual fund and ETF management company that owns the most shares of the company. It has a total of $6.4 trillion in global assets. It is a company that owns many of the top companies in the world. It owns 247 million shares which are about 6.3% of the total shares of the company.
Vanguard Group Inc
This is another company that has a major company that has a major share in almost all the companies that BlackRock Inc has shares in. It is also a mutual fund and ETF management company that has $6.2 trillion in global assets. Vanguard owns 7.8% of Apple which is about 7.8% of the company.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc
This is the company that was founded by the famous billionaire Warren Buffett. Berkshire Hathaway owns 245 million shares of Apple which are about 5.7% of the company.
Conclusion
These are the people and institutions who own Apple. Apple has changed the world forever. Without it, you cannot imagine how the world would be today. Another big contribution of Apple was to the music industry. When Napster burst into the picture it made file sharing easier than ever. People could just download music for free without buying the album. Steve Jobs proposed the idea of selling music through iTunes so that the music industry could make a profit. You wouldn’t be able to listen to your favorite artists if it wasn’t for Apple. There is more to this company than you know. To know more about it you can read the business model of Apple. You can also know about other people or institutions who own these companies. For example, you can click here to know who owns Twitter.
