Apple’s initial public offering was a once in a generation event. When the computer company from Cupertino, California, began trading on the Nasdaq on Dec. 12, 1980, it was the biggest IPO since the Ford Motor Company went public in 1956. As The Wall Street Journal famously put it, “Not since Eve has an Apple posed such temptation.”
The hype proved to be entirely justified. Apple is today the largest company in the world, becoming the first firm to reach a $3 trillion valuation in 2022—four years after it was the first U.S. corporation to surpass the $1 trillion threshold. Those who bet on Apple’s success 44 years ago—and even much later—have been richly rewarded.
