If You Had Invested in Apple After Steve Jobs’ Return, You’d Be a Millionaire Now
Written by
Jacob Wade
Edited by
Rebekah Evans
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Apple is one of the largest and most successful companies in the history of the world. With a market cap of over $1 trillion and billions of users around the world, Apple is carved into the record-books (and stock world) as an innovative and world-changing company.
One of the biggest reasons is due to its former dynamic leader, Steve Jobs. Originally ousted from the company, Jobs returned in the late 90s to reinvigorate Apple and turned it into the behemoth it is today.
If you had the foresight to see Jobs’ return as a pivotal moment in the company and decided to invest in Apple stock back then — you’d have a high chance of being a millionaire today if you still owned that stock.
Apple Stock Prices Before Jobs’ Return
Steve Jobs was ousted from his executive role at the company he founded in 1985. He didn’t return to the company until 1997 when he became the interim CEO of Apple.
During that time, Apple stock rose quickly on the news, going from (post-splits) 6 cents per share up to over 50 cents per share by 1987. Though, Black Monday hit hard and Apple stock dropped around 25 cents per share within one month.
Over the next 10 years before Jobs’ return, Apple stock floundered, ending June of 1997 around 12 cents per share — about half of the initial value from a decade earlier.
Investors during this time would have doubled their money, but things were about to get even better.
How Steve Jobs Turned Apple Stock Around
Steve Jobs was named interim CEO in July of 1997. He quickly installed a new executive team and started the now famous “Think Different” branding campaign. Apple stock shot up over the next few years during the dot-com boom and peaked around $1.34 per share — or ten times in value.
The subsequent dot-com bubble burst and hurt all tech stocks (Apple included), with the stock price settling around 25 cents in 2003. Over the next eight years, with Jobs at the helm, Apple became one of the biggest companies in the world and Apple stock grew rapidly.
In August 2011, Steve Jobs stepped down as CEO of Apple due to his declining health. At that point, Apple stock had risen to $13.74 per share. After Steve Jobs passed away in October of 2011, Tim Cook took the helm as Apple’s leading man and continued Jobs’ legacy of passionate innovation.
The next decade grew Apple into a $1 trillion company and stock prices have risen to $237.50 per share as of January 30, 2025. This is over 169,000% growth for investors that held Apple stock from the day Jobs returned as CEO in 1997 until today.
If You Had Invested Then, How Much Would You Have Today?
Math time.
If you were one of the lucky investors that bought Apple stock when Jobs returned as CEO in June of 1997, you were able to buy shares for just 12 cents per share (split-adjusted).
Here’s the crazy part — if you bought just $505.26 worth of Apple stock in 1997 — it would be worth $1 million today. You would have purchased 4,210.53 shares for just $505.26 in July of 1997 and you’d be a millionaire today if you held onto your shares.
But what if you bought less — or maybe more — Apple stock back then. Here’s how much Apple stock would be worth today if you bought after Steve Jobs returned.
| Shares | Original Cost | Today’s Value |
| 4210.53 | $505.26 | $1,000,000.00 |
| 1000 | $120.00 | $237,500.00 |
| 2000 | $240.00 | $475,000.00 |
| 3000 | $360.00 | $712,500.00 |
| 4000 | $480.00 | $950,000.00 |
| 5000 | $600.00 | $1,187,500.00 |
| 10000 | $1,200.00 | $2,375,000.00 |
| 20000 | $2,400.00 | $4,750,000.00 |
| 50000 | $6,000.00 | $11,875,000.00 |
If you decided to invest $1,200 in Apple stock back then, it would be worth over $2.3 million today. But if you had real conviction in your investment and purchased 50,000 shares of Apple stock for $6,000 back in 1997 — you’d have over $11,500,000 today. Apple stock has had an incredible run. And if you have the foresight to invest back when Steve Jobs became the CEO back in 1997 — you would be incredibly wealthy today.
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