Bill Gates Secretly Purchases Apple Shares (2024)

FAQs

Why did Microsoft buy Apple shares? ›

Microsoft invested in Apple, because they believed it was a good bet to return to profitability. Steve Jobs had just returned to the company, and Bill Gates had known Jobs for more than 20 years. They hadn't always had the best working relationship, but there was undoubtedly a great deal of mutual respect there.

The top shareholders of Microsoft are Satya Nadella, Bradford L. Smith, Kathleen Hogan, Vanguard Group Inc., BlackRock Inc. (BLK), and State Street Corp. Here's a more detailed look at Microsoft's six biggest shareholders.

Aware of the company's current position, Jobs left his competitive perspective and called Gates to find a solution. Recognizing the potential for a win-win scenario, Microsoft agreed to invest a substantial $150 million in Apple, acquiring non-voting shares.

The ownership structure of Apple (AAPL) stock is a mix of institutional, retail and individual investors. Approximately 48.36% of the company's stock is owned by Institutional Investors, 0.11% is owned by Insiders and 51.53% is owned by Public Companies and Individual Investors.

June 12 (Reuters) - Apple once again became the world's most valuable company on Wednesday, dethroning Microsoft from the top spot, as the iPhone maker pushed ahead in a race to dominate artificial intelligence technology.

How did the court rule in the Apple vs. Microsoft copyright case? In 1992, the court ruled in favor of Microsoft. The court found that most of the GUI elements that Apple claimed were infringed upon were not protected by their copyrights.

Arthur Levinson is Apple's largest individual shareholder, owning 4.43 million shares as of February 2024. His stake accounts for only 0.028% of Apple's total outstanding stock. Levinson chairs Apple's board and is also the co-founder and CEO of Calico, an Alphabet Inc.

In August 1997, Microsoft purchased $150 million of non-voting Apple stock. Additionally, Microsoft agreed to continue developing software such as Microsoft Office for the Mac platform for at least 5 years. Microsoft's infusion of cash helped stabilize Apple's finances.

Does Bill Gates own Apple stock? Within Jobs' first year back as CEO, he entered into a partnership with Bill Gates' Microsoft, which made a $150 million investment in Apple and committed to developing software for macOS. In 2003, Microsoft opted to sell all of its Apple stock for $550 million.

Amongst the world's most successful billionaires, Tim Cook is perhaps one of the names that has the most power from all big tech companies.

Who is the largest holder of Apple stock? ›

Largest shareholders include Vanguard Group Inc, BlackRock Inc., Berkshire Hathaway Inc, State Street Corp, VTSMX - Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Investor Shares, VFINX - Vanguard 500 Index Fund Investor Shares, Geode Capital Management, Llc, Fmr Llc, Morgan Stanley, and Price T Rowe Associates Inc /md/ .

Google is owned by a parent holding company, Alphabet.

As its largest investor, Microsoft gets early access to OpenAI's newest models and has some visibility into the inner workings of its code. Apple now gets some special access to OpenAI's technology, a person familiar with the matter said.

As for that $150 million investment, Microsoft sold that stock back to Apple by 2003 as per the arrangement the pair had struck. As of May 2014, according to Engadget, Microsoft's Apple stake would have been valued at $21.86 billion, had they held it.

Stock buybacks increase the value of the remaining shares because there is now less common stock outstanding and company earnings are split among fewer shares.