When Apple Went Public
Apple completed its initial public offering on December 12, 1980, when shares began trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the ticker AAPL. The company sold 4.6 million shares at $22 per share, raising roughly $100 million and valuing Apple at approximately $1.8 billion at the time according to the SEC filing archive.
Before the IPO, Apple was a privately held company founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne, and the public listing marked a major milestone in its transition from a garage startup to a global technology corporation.
IPO Price and Early Stock Performance
The IPO price of $22 per share adjusted for subsequent stock splits translates to a much lower base price in modern terms, and Apple has executed multiple splits, including a 2-for-1 split in 1987, a 2-for-1 split in 1995, and a 7-for-1 split in 2014 as reported by Forbes.
If an investor had bought shares at the IPO price and held through all splits, the effective cost basis would be extremely low, and Apple's market capitalization has since grown to over $3 trillion, making it one of the most valuable publicly traded companies in history.
Apple Stock Today and Long-Term Impact
Apple currently trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker AAPL and is a component of major indexes such as the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, reflecting its central role in the global technology sector and broader financial markets.
Apple's IPO is frequently cited in discussions about landmark tech listings, and its performance is often compared with other major tech IPOs such as those of Tesla and SpaceX, though those companies went public through different structures and timelines with context provided by Forbes.