On October 6, 1997, in response to the question of what he’d do if he was in charge of Apple, Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell stood before a crowd of several thousand IT executives and answered flippantly, “What would I do? I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.”
A little more than a month later, on November 10, 1997, new Apple Interim CEO (iCEO) Steve Jobs responded, speaking in front of an image of Michael Dell’s bulls-eye covered face, “We’re coming after you, you’re in our sights.”
On January 13, 2006, after a little more than eight years of hard work, Apple Inc. passed Dell, Inc. in market value, $72.13 billion vs. $71.97 billion at market close, respectively.
• 2X: On July 27, 2007, Apple’s value doubled that of Dell’s, $127.81 billion vs. $63.65 billion, respectively.
• 3X:On December 6, 2007, Apple’s market value passed 3 times that of Dell’s, $165.66 billion vs. $54.42 billion, respectively.
• 4X:On May 01, 2008, Apple’s market value quadrupled that of Dell’s, $158.66 billion vs. $38.97 billion, respectively.
• 5X:On February 12, 2009, Apple rose $2.60 to hit a market value of $88.37 billion or 5 times that of Dell’s $17.52 billion.
• 6X:On October 20, 2009, Apple rose $11.21 to $201.07 to hit a market value of $180.12 billion or more than 6 times that of Dell’s $29.97 billion.
• 7X:On January 26, 2010, Apple gained $7.57 to $210.64 to hit a market value of $189.72 billion or more than 7 times that of Dell’s current $27.03 billion.
• 8X:In NASDAQ trading today, Apple gained $1.95 to $239.74 to hit a market value of $218.12 billion or more than 8 times that of Dell’s current $25.84 billion.
Apple is also a debt-free company and currently has significantly more cash and short-term investments on-hand ($41.7 billion) than Dell Inc. is worth.
Got any snappy retorts now, Mr. Dell?
See AAPL and DELL quotes via NASDAQ here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “SamLowry” for the heads up.]
Bill Gates, watch your back sunshine…
I think the biggest chasm of value is the difference in quality and continual innovation that Apple so easily extends light years ahead of __________ (you can fill in the blank with just about any company here).
Dell just happens to be the flavour of the thread.
That look on Michael Dell’s face is the precursor to a now congenital foot in mouth disease. I winder how tasty sole leather is.
Consider this one little comparison: Apple has retail stores – Dell has mid-mall kiosks. (At least here in Oz)…
Cheers from the Land Downunder…
Come join us and drink the punch.
We’ve been the underdog for too long, let us revel in our smugness!!!
Honestly, this running tally of venom spewed towards Michael Dell for his idiotic statement – it never gets old!!!!
Ha! Never gets old. Thanks MDN for keeping track for us!
Love you when you’re up AND when you’re down Apple. Just keep making those insanely great products.
Who cares? Dell is irrelevent. Apple needs to knock 4.0 out of the park. THAT’s relevent.
Dell blows
Came within 15B on MSFT during trading today.
With M$ 7ista installed, Dell both sucks and blows at the same time 😀
Apple was worth eight times Dell’s market lonnnnng before Apple became worth eight times Dell’s market value…
Someone should chart that. The difference is going exponentially now. Flip it over and it will look even funnier! Maybe with the line diving into Mr. Dell’s head. Maybe a little comic bubble with, “What would you do now!” Then fading it into, “Line them up, you next Mr. Ballmer!”
At end of trading today:
Apple’s Market Cap is 220.50B and MS’s is 235.22B.
Apple is at 93.7% of MS!
MDN: How about adding a tracker for this to the site banner?
Market cap is good. Hearts and minds are better. Forget those guys. Apple needs to focus on the google roid rage now.
Michael Dell: I’ll just whip out my Mini and then you’ll be sorry!…
http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/19/dell-mini-5-prototype-impressions/
Geez! You guys are so warped! My kind of crowd. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”tongue wink” style=”border:0;” />
Lotus Eleven – “Apple needs to focus on the google roid rage now.”
I’m sure Steve in private conversations… “Steve Jobs responded, speaking in front of an image of Google’s bulls-eye covered name, “We’re coming after you, you’re in our sights.”
Not to worry…
@D. I’m sure you are right. But in the pundit-sphere, Apple got a black eye yesterday. Time to release the Kraken.
His eyes are too close together, making his face resemble that of a swine. Gawd, I love bagging on Mikey!
Apple is only $14.7B away from Microsoft. That’s the closest ever.
MSFT $235B
Apple $220.5B
For another way to look at it, from October 10th of 1997, Dell is up 6.9% while Apple is up 4269%.
Apple’s doing better than Dell. How is that news?
Even better. M$ is next!!! This is good news.
Mrkt Cap AAPL vs MSFT is actually about 7B diff, remember
M$ has a dept of 7.4 billion and Apple is dept. free
Yesterday I heard on the radio that Dell had increased revenue by 59%. However, the stock fell 4% because Dell margins slipped.
His eyes are too close together. You know what the say about that!
In Mikey’s defense, at the time, who knew that Microsoft would self destruct the way it did?