[macintologist]

I keep on seeing these false claims spread around the internets by people who say that Microsoft owns Apple. Now I know Microsoft bought 150 million dollars worth of Apple stock back in 1997 and they were non-voting shares, but since then, how much does that represent of all of Apple's stock? In other words, how much of Apple does Microsoft really "own"?

I tried google searches but couldn't find what I was looking for, maybe someone here knows.

Thanks!

[AKcrab]

Apple bought it back. M$ owns nothing, last I heard.

[hickey]

someone i had a Mac Vs. Pc argument with recently brought that up, i was just about to post a similar thread.

[mduell]

Microsoft sold those non-voting shares a few years ago (for a tidy profit, IIRC).

As far as the fraction of Apple at the time, I'm not sure.
Today Apple has 835 million shares out, but between now and 1997 they've had 2 2-for-1 splits, so they would only have ~210m shares back in 1997. The stock price was about $16 in 1997, making the market cap of the comapany about $3.34. $150m would be 4.5% of the Apple. Unfortunately I don't know if Apple has had any stock buybacks or additional offerings in the last 8 years, so that estimate could be off.
But regardless of what percentage they owned, it was a non-voting so they didn't have any control over Apple.

Back when they owned those shares, they were not only non-voting shares, but they were tiny compared to Apple's net worth. Apple had billions in the bank at that time. $150mil was a drop in the bucket.

Next time somebody tries to claim that, you can tell them how wrong they are.

[macintologist]

Is there any link or official resource where I can see (and prove to someone) that Microsoft doesn't own any Apple stock?

[chabig]

I doubt it. Just challenge the other person to prove that Microsoft owns any Apple stock. It works both ways. And for extra fun, tell them that Apple owns Microsoft.

[hickey]

when he told me that Microsoft owned Apple, I figured he meant they owned some portion of Apple's shares, or they used to at least.

[Psychonaut]

If you're willing to wade through 122 pages of dry financial text, this may answer some of your questions: Apple 2004 10-k Annual Report

[SirCastor]

Originally Posted by hayesk

Back when they owned those shares, they were not only non-voting shares, but they were tiny compared to Apple's net worth. Apple had billions in the bank at that time. $150mil was a drop in the bucket.

That can't be right, back in the 97 days things were not going well for Apple, if they had billions in the bank, why couldn't they provide thier own $150 mil for research and dev (which eventually brought us the iMac.)?

[iCol]

Microsoft bought the stock in Apple as a gesture of good will, to prove to end users that Microsoft was committed to developing for the Mac platform.

Microsoft owned $150 million of non-voting stock, which Apple bought back a few years later as part of a share buy-back scheme. Apple has been buying it's own shares back for some time now.

[chabig]

It's true. They did have billions in the bank. Microsoft's investment was seen in the marketplace as a vote of confidence in Apple. The effect was more psychological than financial.

Chris

[andreas_g4]

Yes. And Bill Gates does prepare Steve Job's keynotes in .ppt and converts them with a top secret PPT-to-Keynote converter…

[Kevin]

I STILL get people TO THIS DAY that tells me "You know MS owns Apple right?"

Then I explained to them they don't, and I ALWAYS get "Well they DID"

[Maflynn]

Originally Posted by macintologist

Is there any link or official resource where I can see (and prove to someone) that Microsoft doesn't own any Apple stock?

Any stock, other then review MS' 10k I doubt that you'll find anyhting. I mean what happens of the mutual fund that they invested in included apple stock - does that count? or that they do own 1 million dollars of apple stock what does that prove?

[gururafiki]

If Apple releases machines with dual operating system support, Apple with then own M$.

[tooki]

The only reason MS bought the Apple stock was as part of a commitment to continue to develop MS Office for Mac for 5 years, during which Apple would set IE as the default browser.

So yeah, MS has never come even close to owning Apple.

tooki

[wdlove]

No, Microsoft doesn't own Apple.

[BRussell]

MS doesn't own Apple, but they do pwn Apple.

[JoshuaZ]

I wish Apple would inverst $150 million in building a virus to kill windows. That would be a good investment.

[tooki]

If the current viruses haven't taken down Windows, no virus will.

tooki

[Kerrigan]

Apple PPWNS!!1 Microsoft