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: On May 21, 2010, 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.
• 9X: On June 1, 2010, Apple gained $6.89 to $263.77 to hit a market value of $240.01 billion or more than 9 times that of Dell’s current $26.29 billion.
• 10X: On September 9, 2010, Apple gained $1.60 to $265.37 to hit a market value of $242.43 billion or more than 10 times that of Dell’s current $24.21 billion.
• 11X: On September 23, 2010, Apple rose $3.79, or 1.32% to $291.54 to hit a market value of $266.34 billion or more than 11 times that of Dell’s current $23.81 billion.
• 12X: Today, Apple rose $0.26, or 0.08% to $344.11 to hit a market value of $317.02 billion or more than 12 times that of Dell’s current $26.02 billion.
Apple is also a debt-free company and currently has significantly more cash and short-term investments on-hand ($57 billion) than Dell Inc. is worth (more than double, in fact).
Hello, Mikey? Miiiiikeeeeey?
See AAPL and DELL quotes via NASDAQ here.
I forgot to celebrate you last Oct 6th. I try to remember your anniversary date this year!
Apple was revived when its founder came back as CEO.
Dell tried to save itself the same way. Unfortunately, all Mikey Dell has accomplished is to make his namesake company even more irrelevant.
But that’s the inevitable end of a company built solely on finding the cheapest way to make a product.
——RM
Pin Headed Prick.
Wait! Didn’t AAPL drop today? Where’d the AAPL 26¢ rise come from today? After hours?
What did you do to that picture? His eyes are every time closer to each other?
Wise investment advice from Mikey there – who wants a 61x (+6,080%) return on investment over 13 years when you could just cash out of AAPL in 1997 and invest it in DELL for a +7.7% return?
In fact your 1997 dollar had more purchasing power than if you’d invested it in Dell and taken it out again in 2010, so perhaps Mikey should have followed his own advice . . .
@Tarzan69
“invest it in DELL for a +7.7% return”
Didn’t DELL’s value go down (from $71.97B to $26.02B)?
I worked in A Dell Hell for 5 LONG YEARS….after they drained me of my graphics expertise they said ” I did not FIT THE MOLD”. LOL!!! At the moment I am unemployed and looking for work in the NEW tech world. I will be more selective in my next endeavor.
…No matter how you slice it (no pun intended), how nice you are, how articulate you present your ideas or how well those ideas are presented when it comes to Apple…. If you are talking to STAUNCH, IGNORANT, SELF RIGHTEOUS IT BLATHER HEADS who make the procurement decisions you will get nowhere. I KNOW I lived it…… and I am better off now that I no longer go to DELL HELL M-F… A true blessing. Go figure. And to close, I was always Thinking Different to make the whole better…. (((((shaking head))))
Michael Dell!!!! GMAFB! Nothing more than a junkyard salesman.