Apple's Initial Public Offering Announcement

On 12/12/1980, Apple Computer, Inc. went public, offering shares on the NASDAQ stock exchange in one of the largest initial public offerings in the United States since Ford Motor Company’s 1956 listing. Apple priced its shares at $22 each and offered 4.6 million shares to the public. The strong demand pushed the stock price to close at $29 on the first day of trading, giving the company a market valuation of approximately $1.7 billion. The IPO created substantial wealth for early investors and employees. More than 40 Apple employees reportedly became millionaires as a result of the public offering. Company founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, along with early investor Mike Markkula, held significant stakes at the time of the listing. The offering was underwritten by Morgan Stanley and Hambrecht and Quist, and trading began under the ticker symbol AAPL. Apple’s public debut followed rapid growth driven largely by the success of the Apple II personal computer, which had been introduced in 1977 and widely adopted in education, business, and home computing. By the time of the IPO, Apple had become one of the fastest growing companies in the personal computer industry. The December 1980 offering marked Apple’s transition from a privately funded startup into a publicly traded technology company.