APPLE, A TRILLIONAIRE GIANT

By Muhammad Shah

Apple, the world’s first trillionaire company, has been at the peak of technological development since the early 1960s. But few of us know that this giant was almost about to go bankrupt.

In the early 1990s, Apple was on the verge of going extinct. They had only 90 days-worth of money left in their account before they would break news. During those 3 months, Apple went through many different managers but eventually brought back Steven Jobs. Although his move to save Apple wasn’t the best idea, it helped keep the company afloat. Jobs made an infamous partnership with Microsoft. In fact, Bill Gates owned a part of Apple through non-voting shares (not on-the market).

Why did Apple almost go bankrupt?

Although Apple had innovative tech, the price tag on their devices were quite high. On the other hand, Microsoft had affordable devices that did the job. They took up almost 90% of the market share where as Apple only held 8%. Therefore, developers had to choose between the profitable 90% or the about-to-go-bankrupt 8%. Of course, they chose Microsoft and Apple was left in the dust, on the verge of becoming unknown.

Why did Microsoft decide to help Apple?

Bill Gates (owner of Microsoft) didn’t save Apple out of kindness, he did it to save Microsoft. Since 1993, Microsoft had cases going against them, but by buying part of Apple, Gates saved his company from being torn apart by the US Government.

What did Bill do with the part of Apple he bought?

Bill kept his $18.5 million shares of Apple until 2003, which he then sold. If Gates had kept these shares until 2018, the number would have risen to more than 200 million meaning he missed out on almost $55 million dollars.

Conclusively, Microsoft saved both themselves and today’s leading technological giants:  Apple.