Apple’s 50th anniversary

Apple, today one of the richest companies
in the world having narrowly avoided
bankruptcy in 1997, has been at the
cutting edge of technology
for half a century

Apple founder Steve Jobs (left),
current CEO Tim Cook (right), and
scene from famous “1984” Super
Bowl ad, directed by Ridley Scott

EVOLUTION OF AN ICON
Contrary to popular belief, there is no profound meaning to Apple name.
Steve Jobs just liked apples, which is also why computers are called
Macintosh (now simply Mac) – named after type of Apple. Today, its
logo is one of most globally recognised, on par with major brands
like McDonald’s (Golden Arches) and Nike (Swoosh)

1976 1977 1998 2001 2007 2017

APPLE SHARE PRICE ($, monthly)

300
250
200
150
100
50
0

1976 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2026

JAN 1, 1981
$0.13*

MAR 1, 2026
$257.46

April 1, 1976, Los Altos, California: Company
founded by Steve Jobs (45% stake), Steve
Wozniak (45%) and Ronald Wayne (10%).
Wayne sold his shares 12 days later
for $800. Had he kept them, they
would be worth $382 billion today!

Steve Jobs dies

MOST
ICONIC
DEVICES

Mac
(1984)

iMac
(1998)

iPod
(2001)

iPhone
(2007)

iPad
(2010)

Watch
(2015)

AirPods
(2016)

Original Mac had just 128K of RAM and cost $2,495 ($7,810 in 2026)

*Dec 12, 1980: Initial Public Offering (IPO) of $22.00 per share, but as stock has split five times since
then, today’s adjusted IPO is $0.10. Sources: MacRumors, Investing.com, Kaggle, Bold Business,
Tailor Brands, Coinnews Media
Pictures: Creative Commons, Getty Images
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