18 Years Ago Today, Steve Jobs Returns

Eighteen years ago today, Steve Jobs returned to Apple (AAPL), the company he founded. The stock closed that day, September 16, 1997, at $21.94 per share. Adjusted for two 2-for-1 and one 7-for-1 splits, Apple was trading at 78.3 cents per share in today’s terms. The high from this past spring was $134.54. The company is currently worth two-thirds of a trillion dollars.

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Interestingly, the stock was not an immediate hit when Jobs came back. Within a few days, it dropped down to $12.75 per share, or about 45.5 cents adjusted for splits. That was barely above Apple’s IPO price from 17 years before.

(Apple IPO’d at $22 per share; adjusted for splits of 56-for-1, that comes to 39.3 cents in today’s dollars. The IPO was the largest offering since Ford in 1956.)

At its low point in 2003, Apple was lower than where it had been in 1983. Think about that! Twenty years of no gain, and this was well after Steve Jobs had returned.

Apple’s single-worst day came on September 29, 2000 when the stock plunged 51.9%. The catalyst was that Apple said they were going to miss earnings. That was also Apple’s highest volume day. It traded over 1.8 billion shares that day.

Apple has suffered other big drops. On the day of the 1987 crash, Apple fell 24.4%. The stock has fallen more than 10% in a single day 26 times, which is nearly once per year.

Apple’s single-best day came on August 6, 1997 when it soared 33.2%. That was the day Steve Jobs, who was then an advisor to Apple, announced at a MacWorld trade show that Microsoft was investing $150 million in Apple preferred stock. That moved saved Apple. At the time, people in the crowd booed. Here’s the video:

Jobs had left Apple 30 years ago this Friday, September 18, 1985. At the time, the stock was at $16.25 per share, or 29 cents adjusted for splits. So in the 12 years of his absence, Apple had gone from 29 cents to 78 cents. That was a gain of 170%, which works out to 8.6% annually.

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In the last 18 years, the stock is up nearly 150-fold, or 32% annually.

Posted by on September 16th, 2015 at 8:43 am


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