Friday, 39 years ago
A little computer company from Cupertino went public. It was December 12th, 1980.
A little computer company from Cupertino went public. It was December 12th, 1980.
Sales of the company's shares were banned (literally, banned) in the state of Massachusetts for fears of the stock being too risky. "The state limits stock prices to 25 times net earnings per share." It was illegal for brokers to trade this company.
The company was Apple.
Apple ended that trading day with a $1.7 billion valuation. It now has a market cap of $1.2 trillion.
It took several decades for the investing community to change their philosophy towards technology companies. The old school approach was to find highly-profitable companies that were for one reason or another trading at a severe discount due to negative sentiment.
With a technology company, it often requires the exact opposite - betting on a company with no profits that has overwhelmingly positive sentiment on its future. The key with technology investing is hence nailing 1) the future and 2) the winner.
"In the future, I'll be able to get a car with the press of a button." (Uber)
"In the future, I think I'll be able to find a romantic partner from my couch." (Tinder)
"In the way future, I'll spend more time in my digital life than my physical life." (Virtual reality...Apple?)
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