5 October 2011: Steve Jobs dies, one day after a new iPhone
Steve Jobs died at 56, a day after Apple unveiled the iPhone 4S. Many predicted the company would drift without its founder. Instead, under Tim Cook, Apple went on to become the first US company worth a trillion dollars and then much more. Investors who sold on the idea that the genius was the whole business underestimated the machine he had built around himself.
The lesson: Great founders build institutions that can outlast them; judge the business, not just the legend.
What it meant for investors
$1,000 in Apple at the start of 2012 → $17,007 today, vs $5,312 in the S&P 500.
We start the clock at the start of 2012, the first year in our price data after the event. That is 17.0 times the money, and $11,694 more than a plain index fund made over the same years.
What Apple teaches: The best returns often come from companies that looked finished; Apple was a near-bankrupt also-ran in 1997, which is exactly why it was cheap.
| Bought in | Price then | Worth today | S&P 500 would be |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | $14.70 | $17,007 | $5,312 |
| 2015 | $27.00 | $9,259 | $3,301 |
| 2018 | $43.00 | $5,814 | $2,519 |
green = beat the S&P 500 · red = lost money
What if you bought Apple? Every starting year and the full story →
More Apple history
- 2 January 2019: Tim Cook writes a letter nobody wanted to read
- 9 January 2007: Steve Jobs unveils the iPhone
- 24 January 1984: The Macintosh goes on sale
- 27 January 2010: Apple unveils the iPad
- 1 April 1976: Apple is founded, and one co-founder cashes out early
- 11 April 1976: The Apple I goes on sale for $666.66
Could you have called it at the time? The wheel picks the year, you pick the position, ten seconds a pick.
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