How Microsoft Saved Apple... (And Why They Did It)
Apple: puts down the most
successful American company. With the sheer volume of their devices and the
greater reliability of their customers, it should come as no surprise that
Apple has recently become the first multibillion-dollar company to be listed on
the US stock market. And then, just twenty years ago Apple was on the verge of
collapse and it was not Steve Jobs who saved them, but rather their biggest
rival at the time, Microsoft.
This Article was brought to you by Dashlane. Never forget your passwords again by
subscribing to a link in the description. Apple of 1997 was a very different
company. They were not selling Smartphones, they were not yet developed, but
they were selling computers. At the time Apple was a computer company and that
was evident even in their name, but by all accounts it was a downtrodden
company. Apple computers were just too expensive to be popular. They had good
margins, but their market place was small. You see, Apple has refused to
license its operating system to other companies, which would have no choice but
to go to another player in the city, Microsoft. Now, remember back in the 1990s
large quantities of computers were used for commercial purposes. Their main
value was the software they had, and if your computer did not have the
necessary programs designed for it, then it was useless for large companies. By
1997 Microsoft had a 90% market share, and it is not surprising that almost all
software built at that time was made for Windows.
All
software developers had to make a choice: he could only spend a lot of money if
he had to make Windows programs, or throw in almost twice to back up Apple,
which had a market share of less than 10%. It is also noteworthy that during
all this time Steve Jobs was not part of the company: Apple's board of
directors fired him in 1985. But in 1997 the situation was really sour: sales
were falling sharply and after a series of unsuccessful CEOs, the Apple Board
actually reinstated Steve. In February they found Next, the company Steve had
started after leaving Apple. But at the time Apple's finances were in such bad
shape that Steve Jobs was not getting the money for this purchase; instead he
acquired shares in Apple, mostly 1.5 million of them. But even that was not
enough. By the end of July Apple still had less than 90 days left in the bank.
Apple has cost less than $ 3 billion and lost more than a billion in one year.
However, on August 6, 1997, SteveJobs made a shocking announcement. I would
like to announce one of our first, most meaningful relationships today, and
that alone with Microsoft. You may have noticed that the crowd's response was
overwhelming: they simply could not understand how Apple could participate in
their biggest rivalry, which kept them out of business.
As the
announcement continued, things got worse. Next, we looked at the browsers there
and Apple decided ... Apple decided to make Internet Explorer its default
browser on the Macintosh. As we believe in choice. The speech sounded like a
statement of commitment. Finally, Microsoft made an investment in Apple.
Microsoft buys Apple shares worth $ 150 million at market value. It is a
non-voting stock. Note the keyword here: abstention. Microsoft did not try to
get Apple, but only supported it. But it was not just the money that Bill
Gateswas was donating. The second part of this is Microsoft's commitment to
roll out Microsoft Office on Macintosh in the next five years. The problem with
the software I mentioned earlier that brought Apple down, was solved by Bill
Gates with one hand. No one can buy an Apple computer without Microsoft Office
on it and here is Bill Gates offering shares in the market, he could just buy
it on the market. Now why did Bill Gates do it? Why keep Apple the night of
their deaths at the hands of Microsoft? Of course, as you may have guessed,
Bill Gates did not do this because of his kindness. In fact, at the time, Bill
Gates had a very bad reputation.He had not yet begun to help people; instead,
he was seen as an intelligent businessman who was determined to do whatever it
took to succeed in his industry. And with every Microsoft account, you succeed;
was so successful in fact, that it attracted the attention of regulators of
security agencies.
The
Department of Justice has been preparing their case against Microsoft since
1993, and it is clear that Bill did not want his company to split, so what
better way to show that Microsoft is not independent than his real competition.
Less than a year after Apple's partnership, the DOJ called on Bill Gates to
make a serious investment in three days. By the way, you can tell a lot about a
person based on how they behave between these things. Have you ever had
discussions with anyone representing Real Networks about what products Real
Networks should offer or not offer or deliver? No. Be aware of how long it
takes before you respond, and consider how the answers may be applied to him or
her. A program designed to assist in performing a specific task, such as word
processing, accounting, or asset management. I would say that the definition is
very vague. Is it accurate as far as it goes? I would say it is unclear but it
is accurate.
Throughout
the investment he was attacking the explanations and remained as vague as
possible because he knew that by saving Apple last year he had saved Microsoft.
The DOJ, eventually, resigned and in 2001 acquitted Microsoft with minimal
penalties. And in terms of what happened to Apple shares Microsoft was like,
Bill Gates removed them as soon as they had achieved their goal. When the
Department of Justice sat down with Microsoft, Bill Gates changed his share of
Apple's non-voting shares. In total he ended up owning 18.2 million Apple
shares, which he sold in 2003. Now, remember that this was after the dots were
affected and in 2003 Apple's stock price was very low compared to its
pre-football length. So how much money did Bill Gates miss out on? Yes, Apple
has been working so well since 2003 that its stock was split at that time, with
a 2: 1 ratio in 2005 and a second time with a 7: 1 ratio in 2014. So the 18.2
million shares then would have been 254 million today. As of August 2018 the
price of Apple's stock is almost $ 210 a piece, which would make Microsoft's
previous stockpile worth $ 53.5 billion today.
So, Bill Gates may have lost a few billion
dollars, but at least he doesn't have to worry about remembering all of his
passwords for services like Dashlane. Dashlane makes password management a
breeze: generates strong passwords, saves them securely on all your devices and
automatically fills them wherever you need them. Dashlane is so light and
secure that I really wouldn't be surprised if Bill Gates himself installed it
on his computer. The beauty of Dashlane is its versatility: it is available on
all desktops and mobile devices and is seamlessly integrated with all browsers.
And it is not just a password service: it protects you by providing a VPN on
all your devices, and it also monitors the Black Web to ensure that your data
has not been exposed by hackers. The full range of Dashlane's service will make
your digital life much easier and more secure, and to help you get a taste of
their amazing features, I offer you a free trial of Dashlane and 10% off their
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Anyway, thanks for reading. Be sure to like, subscribe, leave a comment, check
out my Patreon, check out my Skills hare section and sign up for Dashlane and I
think that’s it. You will hear from me again in about two weeks, and until
then, stay smart.
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