Simply put, Apple is among the handful of companies that can be said to have radically changed the way most people live and work. Apple’s dominant position stems from the massive adoption of the iPhone following its 2007 launch, but the company has a long history that stretches back to the beginning of the technology industry. Alongside its oldest rival Microsoft, Apple is one of only two publicly traded companies to exceed $2 trillion in market capitalization and is regularly either first or second in the ranks of the world’s most profitable firms.

Founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, Apple’s purpose was to develop a user-friendly personal computer. Initially the market leader, listing on the NASDAQ exchange in 1980 with over $117 million in sales, Apple was a highly profitable company throughout the 1980s, becoming by far the most popular personal computer provider. In the 1990s, however, Microsoft Windows began to replace Apple as the personal computer of choice, and by the middle of the decade many thought the company was finished. Both Jobs and Wozniak had left in the 1980s, but the board brought back Jobs in 1997, opening a new chapter in the company’s history.

From then on, a wave of innovative products, including the iPod and a range of laptops reinvigorated Apple’s sales and market position. The success of the iPhone, and later iPad, drove Apple to become the world’s first trillion dollar company in 2018 – but cloud services, music streaming, and mobile payments have all contributed to dramatic and sustained growth, accelerating after the death of Jobs in 2011. Product manufacturing takes place in China, relying on global supply chains, but design still takes place in Apple’s California headquarters. Apple has 150,000 employees worldwide.

Apple’s IPO in 1980 took the company public at a price of $22 per share. Vanguard, BlackRock, and Berkshire Hathaway are all major institutional investors in Apple stock, which is a constituent of both the S&P500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average.