Those of us who were Mac fans when Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1996 were a hardy bunch, having been through a rough 11 years since his departure. While the return was a cause for celebration to be sure, who could ever have imagined the wild ride that he would have taken the company on in the years to follow?
Silicon Alley Business Insider has posted a great “Chart of the Day” on Thursday, which shows exactly what Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ second reign looks like in chart form. If it was a seismograph, that would be one spectacular earthquake, to be sure!
The chart also visually shows how some of Apple’s key moments over the last 15 years affected the market, from the debut of the original iMac to the launch of the first Apple Stores, the iPhone launch in 2007 and most recently, surpassing Exxon as the world’s most valuable company (albeit briefly).
“Steve Jobs is leaving Apple in considerably better shape than he found it,” reports Business Insider, which is overstating the obvious. “When Apple acquired NeXT, and Jobs, for $400 million in December, 1996, Apple's market cap was $3 billion. Today it's $347 billion, leaving it just $2 billion short of being the most valuable public company in the world, Exxon.
“How did Jobs steer the company away from its crash course with the graveyard?” the report asks. “By introducing an unrivaled string of hit products.”
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(Image courtesy of Business Insider)
