Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) The stock has had many problems since its IPO in 1980. After the board fired Steve Jobs in 1985, the company spent years in the wilderness. It suspended dividend payments in 1996 and was nearly bankrupt when it brought Jobs back in 1997.
Shortly after, Apple’s stock price began to rise, making it one of the most successful stocks in history. This illustrates how innovation can significantly improve a company’s future.
Apple stock growth since Jobs’ return
If someone had bought $1,000 worth of Apple stock upon their return in February 1997 and held on to it to this day, that position would be worth about $1.8 million. That figure assumes that this hypothetical investor had reinvested income from the dividend, which Apple reinstated in 2012.
Jobs’ first big move after his return was integrating the Mac ecosystem with the broader tech world, which convinced him Microsoft to invest $150 million in Apple to develop and support a Mac-compatible version of its popular Office software.
He also began building an Apple ecosystem, innovating the Macintosh, launching the iMac in 1998 and releasing a new MacOS in 2001. The company gained even more traction by launching the iPod music player in 2001 and opening Apple Stores and iTunes. Store shortly afterwards.
The innovation that truly transformed Apple, however, was the iPhone, which it launched in 2007. It pioneered the modern smartphone industry and ultimately replaced the need for PCs for many people. The iPhone was so successful that it still generates the majority of Apple’s revenue today.
Apple’s pace of innovation slowed after Jobs died in 2011. Now the company competes more directly with devices and apps that use Alphabet‘s Android operating system and with most of its megatech competitors in artificial intelligence.
Nevertheless, its continued innovation has at times made it the world’s largest company by market capitalization, placing it in the top three today. Thanks to products like the iPhone and its extensive ecosystem, Apple’s stock price should continue to grow.
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Suzanne Frey, a director at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Will Healy has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool holds positions in and recommends Alphabet, Apple, and Microsoft. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls to Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls to Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
If You Invested $1,000 In Apple Stock 27 Years Ago, You’d Have This Amount Today Originally published by The Motley Fool
