I wouldn't call Apple a "firm". If Apple's a firm, then so is Walmart, as is the grocery store I worked in in high school.
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Apple Closes As The Most Valuable Company In the World
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I wouldn't call Apple a "firm". If Apple's a firm, then so is Walmart, as is the grocery store I worked in in high school.
When reached for comment, Ballmer denied that such a story existed.
Remember when Microsoft was worth like...a million times more than Apple? My oh my, how the times have changed.
And that's really the key; given how visible he is in comparison to any other company, and given Apple's rude secrecy (think back to when Jobs was sick and not a peep was mentioned, and one board member nearly resigned over it because he felt it extremely wrong and dishonest for Apple not to notify the shareholders), when he dies, nobody will know until the day of--and with no known succession strategy--you will have a lot of shares being dumped in a panic.
Market cap is just one of many measurements reported by services like Yahoo! Finance. A canny investor looks at multiple factors and decides for himself which statistics are more meaningful.
In a similar vein, one may not judge a potential romantic partner simply by their shoe size.
But at the end of the day, closing stock prices are indeed important, not to fanboys, but to shareholders. After all, increasing shareholder value is the primary responsibility of any publicly trade corporation.
Even if you're not a shareholder, but just a customer, increasing shareholder value should be of interest, since it may indicate the overall health of the company and whether or not one can trust them to innovate and be around for years. Would you really want to buy a product made by someone whose future is bleak?
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If Exxon's creditors all come together and demand that Exxon pay up, Exxon is not going to be able to just say, "Here, you can have my oil wells instead." Oil wells themselves won't pay employees' salaries. The CASH FLOW that those wells generate will. At the end of the day, it's cash that talks. So no, Exxon's oil wells and plants aren't cash. Ask any accounting professional about this.
Apple is beating the crap out of the Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, European and American counterparts!
From near-bankruptcy to world domination.
Congratulations Apple!
From near-bankruptcy to world domination.
Congratulations Apple!
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Microsoft's spreading the wealth led to a massive talent drain. People did not loyally keep toiling at Microsoft. They took their millions and started their own businesses or invested in other businesses.
I know quite a few very wealthy former Microsoft employees. They are all former employees.
From a business standpoint paying people is one thing. Companies giving out stock options in lieu of salary is a gamble. Most employees who made that gamble lost.
There is nothing wrong with paying people for the job they do.
Pentad said:
Microsoft's spreading the wealth led to a massive talent drain. People did not loyally keep toiling at Microsoft. They took their millions and started their own businesses or invested in other businesses.
I know quite a few very wealthy former Microsoft employees. They are all former employees.
From a business standpoint paying people is one thing. Companies giving out stock options in lieu of salary is a gamble. Most employees who made that gamble lost.
There is nothing wrong with paying people for the job they do.
It's good to see that there are still people out there who recognize the difference between a company that ONLY sells expensive consumer goods (Apple) and a company whose products fuel an entire industry (Microsoft).
The only correction to your statement that I want to make is that Microsoft is still playing this role and they are also still growing.
I don't see any enterprises and data centers using Apple products. In fact, not even Apple is using Apple products in its own data center.
All the former Microsoft employees that I have met still love Microsoft and they are still loyal to Microsoft -- they simply left Microsoft because they wanted to move on, run their own company or simply needed a change in their life. Nobody that I have met personally or read about ever left Microsoft because they thought that the company sucked. And they all are still using Microsoft products in their own businesses. I'd say that this is a total win for Microsoft.
I was at the campus in Redmond not long after Windows 2000 was released and Bill Gates was still actively working there. Microsoft knows that its most valuable assets are its employees, and the company treats its employees very well and makes them feel appreciated - it's not just a slogan that everybody uses these days, Microsoft is serious about it. (Well, I haven't been there since Ballmer took fully over, so I don't know if it has changed in the meantime.)
The other thing that I liked about Microsoft was that it did not feel "religious" there. It felt like a company where people enjoyed working and spending their time, but it did not have the touch of a religious institution. For all I know, Apple behaves and feels more like a church or a sect than it is a company, and that doesn't earn them any points in my book.
Also, Microsoft (and I mean Microsoft, not Bill's Foundation) invests aggressively in education and social activities to help people create a better future for themselves. Of course, Microsoft wants this to be a better future with Microsoft products being used by these people, but the point is that unlike Apple, Microsoft actively pumps money into financially and socially weak groups and they also pump money into developing countries. Apple on the other hand is more interested in the BMW drivers and Nike wearers who look for additional status symbols.
That being said, I like a lot what these guys are doing:
www.canonical.com
www.ubuntu.com
The difference being that when Apple gets greedy it has no real impact on the majority of people--can't afford an Apple product then don't buy it.
When oil companies get greedy it pretty much screws everyone. It's harder to be forgiving when the consequences of a greedy action directly impact things like employment, healthcare, food, clothing.
What a long, strange trip it's been for Apple.
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Yes, but assets won't help XOM get more cash than what they already do. Also it's not exactly easy to liquidate those buildings, for when say an oil well runs dry, or when the plant and machinery simply dies of age. So, market cap is not that bad of a figure after all...
Furthermore, XOM is now 2 companies in one. Imagine for a second Appl and M$ to merge and become Apm$
Apple is one of the best managed companies and this shows in their stock.
Not the right moment right now. Wait a few weeks until this Europe sovereign crisis/US debt ceiling/rating downgrade is settled a bit more. Shares are likely to go down a bit more in the short term, personally I will buy some more when they hit 350 a share, and I give them until the end of August to do so.
I dont think Apple would have even came close to achieving this without Jonathan Ives.
Although the majority of readers here will respect whats inside the iPhone/iPad/Mac, the majority of customers just want to fit in and have something pretty. Apple has a lot of innovative ideas but since most customers never even backup to itunes, im guessing they really didnt buy an iPhone for the system on a chip!
Although the majority of readers here will respect whats inside the iPhone/iPad/Mac, the majority of customers just want to fit in and have something pretty. Apple has a lot of innovative ideas but since most customers never even backup to itunes, im guessing they really didnt buy an iPhone for the system on a chip!
Typical endemic US arrogance
Title should read 'in the US' not 'in the world'. Like here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14485114
how many more downgrades to their credit rating will the average American have to suffer before they learn that they are only one part of the global economy?
Title should read 'in the US' not 'in the world'. Like here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14485114
how many more downgrades to their credit rating will the average American have to suffer before they learn that they are only one part of the global economy?
If I was Steve Jobs I would have called the iOS conceiver to my desk and given him the biggest bonus ever seen in corporate history. IMO the mobile team deserves huge credit for making them a household name from just a niche product a decade ago.
+1
MS does gets a lot of respect from me for actively investing the computer engineering and software/ai departments in our university and giving scholarships as well as many learning seminars to us undergraduates. Not to mention a close partnership for future employment.
Apple on the other hand is only seen in our campus bookstore selling their macs and iPods with student-unfriendly prices (even with discounts).
I never got the MS hate by a lot of people here.
What the report is about has little to do with exactly where the share price is now, but more to do with the once scarcely believable news that Apple has become for however briefly the worlds most valuable company. The haters will find numerous ways to dismiss this, but those of us who have followed Apple's fortunes over the years this is a pinch yourself I must be dreaming moment.
One that's often mentioned is Saudi Aramco, a state owned company, but the valuation is anything from $700 billion to several trillions.
On another note - never mind Jobs, Oppenheimer and Johnson are the ones to benefit from this, both with stock options worth well over $100m at the moment.
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Our company is one of the few that were bold enough to start implementing hardline performance-based employment which puts a lot of weight on an individual's actual worth based on a combination of their intelligence, experience and skill. Many people walk into our offices and say that they're good, others graduate college with an IT degree and expect us to give them unrealistic salary figures, etc. In a nutshell, paper degrees aren't much of a value anymore, you want that pay, you need to prove that you're worth it... it's probably the most fair system I've ever been a part of.
It's a no brainer that Apple's revenue goes to workers especially regarding their payrolls. When you say "companies", what are you referring to since Apple has no affiliation with any other company who's not already under the Apple payroll.
Apple is not a "giving" company in any charitable measure and Steve Jobs has made it very clear that he has no intention on "giving back" even though earlier he did state when the company was in a better position to do so "back when Apple was in a dire mess financially". He even said that people assume too much that just because a company is successful that there's some requirement to give back to the people, and said that was false.
While I hate to admit that he's right on that account, it's also correct that in comparison to Microsoft, more people have benefited from them than Apple. Microsoft has and continues to give to charitable causes, Bill Gates gives up his own money separate from Microsoft towards his personal choices, many students including I have benefitted from grants funded by Microsoft, many engineering and research projects were also funded by them, many agencies not just limited to government have benefited from Microsoft's HUP (Home User Program), students with a valid .edu address can still benefit from the MS Office Ultimate Steal package for $80 (as opposed to paying several hundred dollars), the list is almost endless.
As military, DoD contractor, I qualify for Apple's Gov't purchase option which takes off $100 off a Macbook Pro, whoopty doo. Microsoft have sent me 4 vouchers in the past 11 years to purchase 2 complete workstations (valued at over $4500 retail each) and 2 laptops (1 valued at $1500, the other $5500) where I only had to pay shipping due to my involvement with the American Red Cross for Haiti, Katrina and Pattaya (Thailand) relief.
Each and one of you likely give more towards charitable causes when you drop that nickel into the red can during Christmas than Apple.