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: On January 27, 2011, 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.
• 13X: On August 26, 2011, Apple rose $9.86, or 2.64%, to $383.58 to hit a market value of $355.61 billion or more than 13 times that of Dell’s current $27.29 billion.
• 14X: On September 20, 2011, Apple rose $1.82, or 0.44%, to $413.45 to hit a market value of $383.31 billion or more than 14 times that of Dell’s current $27.15 billion.
• 15X: Today, Apple rose $14.03, or 2.75%, to $523.49 to hit a market value of $486.78 billion or more than 15 times that of Dell’s current $32.37 billion.
Apple is also a debt-free company and currently has three times more in cash on-hand (now over $100 billion) than Dell Inc. is worth.
Hello, Mikey? Miiiiikeeeeey? Got any snappy retorts today?
See AAPL and DELL quotes via NASDAQ here.
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It never gets old.
So true.
+1
It’s one of my favorite things.
Apple is appreciating at the rate of one Dell per year!
Next: power of two!
Interestingly that’s the same turnover rate of Dell’s computers.
ain’t it the truth.
No, it doesn’t get old! But, at 15X it’s getting hard to keep track. I guess we need to also tabulate the multiple of Apple’s cash hoard vs. the total value of Dell. We’re at 3X now and growing…
This morning I took a Dell and wiped my Mikey.
Childish, I know.
Do you guys think that michael@dell.com is that looser’s email address? I am so high on my aapl profits right now, I’d like to send him some… love.
it’s ‘loser’.
You must not be watching today Skippy. AAPL is hurting. I sold before noon. Looks like you didn’t. Too bad. You only make money when you sell. Holding is just that ; holding.
I don’t know. That bunch I bought at 20, two splits ago, is doing just fine.
Sure you did.
You’re a moron. You locked in some capital gains; so now what do you do? Oh, I’m sure Dell is selling at a discount, maybe that’s where you should invest next, ‘skippy’
Funny, all morning Apple was way up until liars sold just before the market dive over Greece. So far, they have not reported buying back in. GM, do report in before close of market.
Ok. Market closed. Down $11.79. Now how smart do you look? You really should stick to posting regarding subjects you grasp. Your comment about liars(?) and Greece have absolutely nothing to do with AAPL! Clearly you don’t understand equities. Feel free to post as a fanboy but stay away from stocks. You are clearly a fool. To put it kindly.
Good point. (Not) No matter how a stock moves in a day, you don’t sell on a single day’s activity, especially given the consistent overall gain AAPL is showing. Clearly you’ve either lost your nerve or you’ve lost your confidence in AAPL. That or you make your money churning stock.
Poor guy… It must be a heavy burden to live with that…
Who cares?
I do wonder about 2x MSFT, but that is far into the future. A week or so at least.
Are you nuts? A week or two, not a chance. Maybe a month though. Huge Smile 🙂
Loving the AAPL options now.
I will never, ever tire of hearing this one.
Karma is a bitch.
Snappy retorts? Nope jesh pashin’ bye cross-eyed on my way to the sink hole of also-ran irrelevant tech companies peddlin’ PCrap and nuttin’ spatial. Oh yeah and with me tail beneath me humbled hot air lungs, legs, market cap and stock. DON’T LOOK AT ME!
I remember the day I saw the news that Steve Jobs modestly sent a email to all his employees about Apple passing Dell in market value. It wasn’t much, but who would say that day was the begging of one of many embarrassed executives…. Steve Balmer, Ed Colligan, Motorola CEO, RIM’s former CEOs and many more.
Someone should start a website called “Famous Last Words” with the short sighted comments of CEO’s from Dell, Palm, Microsoft, Rimm, Nokia, …….. All steamrolled by Apple.
All the sweeter when you consider that not only is Mikey’s company a joke, but his very surname is now a laughingstock with along with it!
You know, I’ve been using Macs since my first bondi-blue G3 tower which I bought in 1999.
But, I started following Apple in about 1996 after the vampires Irving Gould & Medhi Ali sucked the life out of Commodore and left the Amiga’s twitching, emaciated corpse on the sidewalk.
Back when we had to actually use modems, my daily dose of internet tech news always started with Jack Miller’s website, ‘As the Apple Turns’.
I will never forget when Michael Dell said that Apple to should ‘Shut the company down…’
If you want to understand why ‘Apple fanbois’ are so sensitive, faithful and voracious, all you have to do is look at the years and years of condescension, derision, and disdain that have been heaped upon us by Windows users.
After years in the wilderness, the superior platform is finally getting its due and I would like to extend a congratulatory middle finger to Michael Dell and others like him.
Eat it, b*tch.
Hey, I miss As the Apple Turns – great writing and always brought a great laugh.
Excellent post, I completely agree!
In the 80’s and 90’s, Apple was the kid that everybody picked on in high school. Now, Apple is the popular, well-dressed, wealthy one that all the others wish they could get the time of day from.
I’ve been using Apple computers since my dad brought our first Apple II home from the only local Apple dealer of the day in 1979. Later, I worked in an Apple dealer, and I’ve been a Mac user since the beginning.
Damn, it’s a good time to be an Apple fan.
Well said, fandango.
Amen. It’s been a LONG 28 years. Hey Mikey how do you like THEM APPLES?! FU Loser! May you enjoy your Dell Hell into eternity.
MDN: “Hello, Mikey? Miiiiikeeeeey? Got any snappy retorts today?”
We all know what he would say: He was misunderstood in 1997.
To be fair, the headline can’t all be explained by Apple’s great products and management. Dell’s market cap has fallen from $72 billion in 2006 to $32.5 billion today. That’s a loss of 55%. If not for that, Apple would ‘only’ be worth 7-8 times the value of Dell.
DEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRR!
You can bet your bottom dollar that Miiiiikeeeeey and the rest of the tech heads are also heavily invested in AAPL stock! They’re not that stupid.
Dell’s shareprice has been going up lately as has Microsoft’s. When it reverts back to its recent average of around $27, Apple will probably be close to 20x more than Dell. Shouldn’t be more than a couple months when the next earnings report comes out.