Microsoft saved Apple from bankruptcy - 12 amazing facts you probably didn't know about Microsoft | The Times of India (2024)

FAQs

How did Microsoft save Apple from bankruptcy? ›

Aware of the company's current position, Jobs left his competitive perspective and called Gates to find a solution. Recognizing the potential for a win-win scenario, Microsoft agreed to invest a substantial $150 million in Apple, acquiring non-voting shares.

When Jobs came back as interim CEO, in 1997, he was faced with the task of making Apple profitable again. What he did is nothing short of amazing: the company went from losing $1.04 billion to turning a $309 million profit a year later. Jobs saved the company and set the course for decades of innovation.

Did you know that Bill Gates once saved Apple from bankruptcy? In 1997, Bill Gates invested US$150 million so Apple could survive and grow its business.

The show of friendship between rivals Bill Gates and Steve Jobs shocked the tech and business communities. On August 6, 1997, Microsoft's Bill Gate invested $150 million in Apple which was in the brink of bankruptcy. Following the deal, Steve Jobs told Gates, “Bill, thank you.

This means those 18.1 million shares would have been 253.4 million shares as of today. Multiply that by the current stock price of $503,43, and the result is a whopping $127.5 billion stake. That's 5.9% of Apple's total value, a market capitalization of $2.1 trillion. So there you have it.

How did the court rule in the Apple vs. Microsoft copyright case? In 1992, the court ruled in favor of Microsoft. The court found that most of the GUI elements that Apple claimed were infringed upon were not protected by their copyrights.

In 1985, Steve Jobs was famously fired from Apple after a power struggle with the company's board of directors. After revolutionizing personal computing and establishing a legendary brand, Jobs was ejected from the company he helped grow into a billion-dollar behemoth.

It triggered me to think back to 1997, when Microsoft invested $150M in Apple. Not to save them from bankruptcy, be "good guys," but as part of a settlement for pirating software from Apple. Microsoft's investment equated to owning 7% of Apple, in preferred stock.

Microsoft's Bill Gates and Apple's Steve Jobs never quite saw eye-to-eye. They went from cautious allies to bitter rivals to something almost approaching friends — sometimes, they were all three at the same time.

No, Bill Gates does not have any shares in Apple.

Why did Microsoft save Apple? ›

1. Maintaining competition in the industry. While Microsoft dominated the PC market in the 1990s, Apple was still seen as an important counterbalance and innovator. Having Apple fail would allow Microsoft to fully monopolize the market, which could invite more intense regulatory scrutiny.

What did Bill Gates invent? Technically, Bill Gates didn't invent anything genuinely new. Instead, he and Paul Allen created two high-quality products that computer companies could use: the BASIC programming language for the Altair 8800 and the MS-DOS operating system for the IBM PC.

Apple (AAPL) Ownership Overview

The ownership structure of Apple (AAPL) stock is a mix of institutional, retail and individual investors. Approximately 33.65% of the company's stock is owned by Institutional Investors, 0.11% is owned by Insiders and 66.24% is owned by Public Companies and Individual Investors.

Microsoft has surpassed Apple's market cap to become the world's most valuable public company again.

The deal between the two companies was mutually beneficial from every angle. Apple got some much needed cash while Microsoft was able to keep a weakened competitor afloat, thereby alleviating concerns about the company's monopolistic power.

The companies agreed to settle all outstanding litigation and cross-license patents, while making Microsoft Office available for the Macintosh, and making the Internet Explorer the default browser — but not the only one — on the Mac. As Time magazine famously put on its cover, Jobs said to Gates, "thank you, Bill.

The Cupertino, California-based company's stock has slid 3.3% in January as of last close, compared with a 1.8% rise in Microsoft. "It was inevitable that Microsoft would overtake Apple since Microsoft is growing faster and has more to benefit from the generative AI revolution," said D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria.