Apple: Most Valuable Company?

As of today Apple is now the “most valuable company”. Apple now has a market capitalization of $337.2 billion surpassing ExxonMobil with a market cap of $330.8 billion. I put most valuable company is quotation markets because the market can misprice things. The technology bust of 1999-2000 and the financial crisis are just recent episodes of this. The sector weightings of both technology and financial companies during this period became very high. The weightings became high creating bubbles within certain sectors that eventually went bust.

Apple is known for producing computers and electronic devices that consumers use around the world. The iPhone I would say has been the biggest hit for Apple in recent years. The iPad also seems to be very popular as well. Even though Apple has had successes they have also had failures. One failure that sticks out in my mind is the Lisa computer that was developed in the early 1980’s. The computer would be over $21,000 in current dollars yet lacked the computing power of any modern day cell phone. Another flop I remember was the Apple Newton which is what use to be called a personal digital assistant (PDA). Basically the device allowed you to set your calendar and organize contact information.

One problem that I think few people realize about Apple’s success is solely based on Steve Jobs. The biggest worry is the health of Steve Jobs. In 2004, he had a rare form of pancreatic cancer. In 2009, he had a liver transplant. The five year survival rate for liver transplant is between 75-90%. I honestly would be shocked if Jobs lived a long live. Being CEO is hard on perfectly healthy people and would be even harder on people with health issues. Jobs seems to be the superstar for Apple and if he were to leave it would cause great uncertainty for Apple. Jobs himself has created over 230 patents.

What is perhaps the most interesting is how the media and even some people think of Jobs somewhat of a hip entrepreneur who is earth loving and kind. I don’t think people understand the type of personality Steve Jobs really has. Steve Jobs is intense and demanding. From what has been written about Jobs he is obsessed with making something people will enjoy. It wouldn’t be hard to classify Jobs as a perfectionist. There was a movie years about a decade ago called “Pirates of Silicon Valley” that shed light on the type of personality Jobs may have had during the early days of Apple. Whatever his personality may be Jobs has made everyone else better off including himself. Steve Jobs got rich by figuring out what consumers trying to perfect exactly what consumers wanted. As a result Jobs has a net worth today of $8.3 billion.

Jobs created a company that very consumer eccentric. Apple figures out what consumers really wanted. People complain that Apple products are more expensive, but there are always alternatives. Being paranoid and a perfectionist are not classified as desirable traits yet in the case of Steve Jobs millions of people have benefitted.