Apple gets ultimate revenge on Michael Dell

The greatest business turnaround in the history of the world hits another milestone, writes Michael Simon

If the best revenge is living well, then Tim Cook is sticking it to everyone. Apple’s stock passed another significant milestone in August, becoming the first company in history to top a market capitalization of a trillion dollars, albeit briefly. That’s a one with 12 zeros.

Of course, it wasn’t always this rosy. On 29 September 2000, Apple’s stock dropped more than

50 percent, from $26 to $13, effectively cutting its market capitalization in half, to around $5 billion, and it didn’t look good for the Mac maker. At the time it was hard to see Apple recovering, but since that fateful day the stock has since split twice and soared to unimaginable levels.

To put its market cap in perspective, Apple Inc is worth two Facebooks, seven Netflixes, 42 Twitters, and 53 Dells. If you remember, Dell founder Michael Dell famously quipped in 1997 that he would “shut (Apple) down and give the money back to the shareholders”. He’s since taken back the statement by saying he would shut down any company that isn’t Dell, but it clearly inspired Steve Jobs, who had this to say at the time: “We are going to be second in logistics and operations and the buying experience, to no-one – including Dell.”

While that’s been true for a while now, Apple’s milestone is a significant one. Not only is the iPhone still selling like hot cakes, Apple has also shown significant growth in its Services and wearables categories, two divisions that were virtually nonexistent just a few years ago.

Why this matters: In the great scheme of things, it probably doesn’t. Apple will still release new iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches in the autumn, and iOS 13 will still arrive next year. But it’s incredible to witness a company that was nearly worthless just two decades years ago now be valued at over a trillion dollars.