Popularly known as Apple Inc., it is a company that deals with the manufacture, design, and sale of a large and wide range of technological devices. Currently, it is rated as the world’s largest company by market value. This company is well known for its unique products or technological devices such as; iPad, iPod, Macs, iPhone, Apple Watch, Apple TV, among others. Apple Inc. has its headquarters in Cupertino, California.
The original owners of Apple?
Apple was created and founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in 1976 April. Initially, the Apple idea was a dream of Wozniak to build his computer. The two Steve’s came together and started the Apple journey in Steve Jobs garage.
1. Steve jobs
Jobs was born in February 1955 in San Francisco, California. Initially, he was interested in engineering but later had a change of heart and dropped out of Reed College to work as a video game designer in 1974. Jobs reconnected with a high school friend Steve Wozniak who shared his idea of starting up his computer. Jobs showed interest in Wozniak and ideas, and he suggested that they both work together. Steve died in 2011 after stepping down as the CEO of Apple.
2. Steve Wozniak
Wozniak was born in August 1950 in San Jose, California. Wozniak was talented in Mathematics and had an interest in electronics. Just like Jobs, Wozniak dropped out of the University of Colorado. He later attended a local community college and proceeded to the University of California.
In 1976, Wozniak came up with his microcomputer, but the company he was working for had no interest in developing Wozniak’s design. He met Jobs, who was interested in his idea, and they both decided to work together forming the Apple Computer company. They started with capital that came from selling Jobs automobile and Wozniak’s programmable calculator.
They both started working in Job’s family garage, and by 1977 they had their first product, which the named Apple II.
3. Ronald Wayne
Wayne only stayed at Apple for 12 days, where he decided to sell his shares to Wozniak for $800. Both Jobs and Wozniak owned 45% of the Apple Company, while Wayne owned a 10% stake in the company. He left Apple Company and had his name removed as well.
At the formation of Apple, Jobs was 21 years while Wozniak was 25, and both were broke. Wayne, on the other hand, had assets, and he worried that if the company was unable to pay the loans they had acquired, then he would suffer that the other two co-founders.
He contributed to the company by designing the company logo that was used for less than a year until it was replaced with the current Apple logo.
Who are the real owners of Apple now?
There is no individual owner of Apple Inc. Institutional investors, however, have a very large stake in the company that is 67.77%, and that makes them the majority owners of the company. The top 5 individual shareholders include; Arthur (Art) Levinson, Tim Cook, Jeff Williams, Al Gore, and lastly, Deirdre O’Brien.
Top 5 individual shareholders of Apple
1. Art Levinson
Art has been the chairman of Apple since 2011, and during this time, he has secured a large share of the company’s shares, which makes him the individual majority shareholder among the top 5.
2. Tim Cook
Tim became the CEO of Apple in 2011 after the death of Jobs, and he is still the current CEO. He holds 847 969 Apple shares coming second from Art, which holds 1, 148 712 shares of the company.
3. Jeff Williams
Jeff works under Tim Cook as the COO of the Apple Company. He deals with the operations of Apple worldwide as well as customer service and support. He comes third in individual ownership by owning 122 195 shares of the Apple Company.
4. Al Gore
Gore joined Apple in 2003 immediately after losing the 2000 presidential elections to George W. Bush. He holds 115 014 shares of the Apple Company.
5. Deirdre O’Brien
Deirdre currently is the senior vice president of retail, and just like Jeff Williams, she reports directly to Tim Cook. She holds 33,854 shares of the Apple Company. She is the last individual owning a large percentage of Apple shares.
Top 3 institutional shareholders of Apple
There are three well known institutional shareholders and that have appeared in Apple’s SEC 14A filing recently. The three include; The Vanguard Group, BlackRock Inc., and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. The three are known to own more than 5% of the Apple Company.
1. The Vanguard Group
The Vanguard Group is well known as the largest investment company worldwide. The company holds the majority shares compared to the other two shareholders. The 14 A SEC filing proves that the Vanguard Group has shares in the Apple Company worth $ 120 billion. Vanguard owns 7.8% of the total Apple shareholdings.
2. BlackRock
Black rock is the second-largest institutional shareholder of Apple holding 296,598,349 shares of Apple Company. Susan Wagner is a board member of Apple and, at the same time, the founder and a board member at BlackRock Inc. In terms of percentage, BlackRock owns 6.3% of the total shares of Apple.
3. Berkshire Hathaway
Hathaway is an investment company whose ownership is tied to one of the richest people in the world that is Warren Buffet. The company owns shares in Apple worth$ 90 billion. This company has other shares in other companies such as Coca-Cola and Bank of America, among others. Being the third institutional shareholder, Hathaway owns 5.7% of the total shares of the Apple Company.
Conclusion
Apple is owned by individual investors and institutional shareholders. There are a few who own a majority of the shares, as discussed above. The top individual shareholders, as discussed above, include; Arthur Levinson, Tim Cook, and Al Gore. Top institutional shareholders are; Vanguard Group Inc., BlackRock Inc., and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. The institutional shareholders, however, own the largest shares, which amount to 62% of the total shareholdings.