Anyone watching the technology sector has to be familiar with Apple’s return from the brink of destruction in the mid-90s, on the strength of its revamped iMac and PowerMac lines, and in more recent years, its iPod, iPhone and iPad.
Those successes have certainly paid off, with today marking a milestone in Apple’s turnaround: Apple is now the world’s largest technology company, having won the honor from Microsoft during trading on Wednesday. Datamation has the story.
Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) closed Wednesday with a stock price of $25.01 per share and a market capitalization of $219.18 billion, while Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) closed with a share price of $244.11 and a market cap of $222.12 billion.
That’s a far cry from 1997 when Microsoft’s then-CEO and chairman Bill Gates stepped in to help out with a $150 million investment in Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple, which at the time was still on shaky financial ground. Apple had for years been facing sliding sales and stock price thanks in part to flops like the Newton and lackluster interest in its PCs, which were pricier than competing Windows-based offerings. Those missteps cut into its bottom line, and Apple went through several changes at the top before welcoming back co-founder Steve Jobs to lead the company in 1997.
