As of 2023, major Apple shareholders comprised Warren Buffet‘s Berkshire Hathaway with 5.73% of the company’s stock (valued at over $130 billion). Followed by other individual shareholders like Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, with about 3.3 million shares, Artur Levinson, chairman of Apple, with over 4.5 million shares, and others.
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Does Steve Jobs still own Apple’s stocks?
If Steve Jobs kept Apple’s IPO stocks until the end, he’d probably be worth over a hundred billion dollars; since Apple in 2022 passed the $2.5 trillion valuation, Steve Jobs initially had an 11% stake in the company.
Thus his stake would have been worth over $250 billion.
However, when he left the company – after he was ousted – he sold his Apple stocks. It was 1985. He used that money to buy Pixar.
In 2006 Pixar got sold to Disney, and Steve Jobs got around an 8% stake in the company in exchange.
As shown in Walt Disney financials, Laurene Powell Jobs Trust still owned 7.8% of the company’s stocks in 2016, corresponding to 128,301,176 shares. As of 2018, that information is missing, which tells us that Jobs’ wife sold part of those stocks.
Thus, going below the 5% shares ownership:
From Walt Disney Proxy Statement of 2016
What about Apple Inc.?
Suppose we look back at Apple Inc. Ownership structure in 2011, when Steve Jobs left us, we can see how many stocks he owned at the time:
Those stocks, which amounted to 5,546,451, comprised 0.60% of the company (on a total of 921,043,522 shares at the time), which was held indirectly through a trust fund.
We don’t know how many stocks of Apple and Disney the trust run by Jobs’ wife owns. As the ownership has gone below the 5%, there is no obligation to file a report as a shareholder.
That is why Apple’s ownership, you might not see Steve Jobs.
Does Steve Wozniak still own Apple’s stocks?
To understand Steve Wozniak’s position when it comes to money, it is worth recounting what he said at the Nordic Business Forum in Sweden, as reported by Investopedia:
When it shot up high, I said, ‘I don’t want to become one of those people that watches it, watches it, and cares about the number,'” Woz said. “I don’t want that kind of care in my life. Part of my happiness is not to have worries, so I sold it all — just got rid of it — except just enough to still experiment with.
I do not invest. I don’t do that stuff. I didn’t want to be near money, because it could corrupt your values.
In a 2014 thread – after the movie “Jobs” came out – with a long comment on Google+, Steve Wozniak stressed a few points:
And when Jobs (in the movie, but really a board does this) denied stock to the early garage team (some not even shown) I’m surprised that they chose not to show me giving about $10M of my own stock to them because it was the right thing. And $10M was a lot in that time.
Referring to the fact that Jobs had denied stock options to one of the early Apple employees from day one. Steve Wozniak gave away $10 million of his stocks.
Thus, even if that is expressed in Apple’s stocks that are way less than 5%, the amount required to be reported by law.
That is why you might not see Steve Wozniak among the Apple Inc. Investors.
What about the other investors?
When did Apple’s ownership change hands?
As reported on Apple’s proxy statement for 2018, “5,087,056,000 shares of Apple’s common stock were issued and outstanding as of 2018.
Unless otherwise indicated, all persons named as beneficial owners of Apple’s common stock have sole voting power and investment power concerning the shares indicated as beneficially owned.”
Apple’s mythical founders, Steve Jobs, and Wozniak, at that point already missed as they now owned less than five percent of the company’s stocks.
The first two top investors for Apple are institutional investors:
The Vanguard Group
BlackRock, Inc.
The top five Apple individual investors are:
Art Levinson
Art Levinson is an American businessman and Chairman of Apple Inc. since 2011. He was addressed as Chairman to replace Steve Jobs in 2011, after his death.
Tim Cook
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook was the former COO (chief operating officer) under Steve Jobs. Graduating from Auburn University in 1982, Cook spent 12 years at IBM. He joined Apple in 1998 until he became CEO in 2011.
Bruce Sewell
Sewell is an Apple executive who joined the company from Intel Corporation in 2009. He announced his retirement in 2017 after eight years of leading the company’s legal and security efforts.
Al Gore
Former US Vice President Al Gore has been sitting on Apple’s board of directors since 2003. Apple reported at the time, “Al brings an incredible wealth of knowledge and wisdom to Apple from having helped run the largest organization in the world—the United States government—as a Congressman, Senator, and our 45th Vice President. Al is also an avid Mac user and does his own video editing in Final Cut Pro,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Al is going to be a terrific Director, and we’re excited and honored that he has chosen Apple as his first private sector board to serve on.”
In February 2017, Al Gore sold part of its Apple stocks – more precisely, he sold 215,437 stocks at $136.72 as reported to the SEC – which netted him over $29 million.
According to the Apple proxy statement, he still owns 112,064 shares which, if he was going to sell at the current price – $215.36 – he could sell for over $24 million.
Johny Sroujli
Johny Srouji is Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Technologies, which now reports to CEO Tim Cook. He joined Apple in 2008 after working at Intel and IBM.
Apple’s KPIs
Apple Corporate Governance
Key takeaway
Apple Inc. had a troubled history where it changed ownership several times. When the company was going public, Steve Jobs didn’t recognize ownership of some of the early employees.
That is why Steve Wozniak sold to those early employees at a symbolic price of $10 million worth of stocks.
Thus, he became a minor shareholder in comparison to Steve Jobs.
When Jobs was ousted from the company in 1985, he sold his Apple shares and moved on to Pixar.
When Disney acquired Pixar, Jobs got almost 8% of the company.
At his death, the shares went to its trust, now managed by his wife. Part of the stocks in Apple and Disney were liquidated below 5%.
Thus making it impossible to know exactly how many shares the Jobs Trust owns.
Apple Inc. is owned by two main institutional investors (Vanguard Group and BlackRock, Inc).
At the same time, its major individual shareholders comprise people like Art Levinson, Tim Cook, Bruce Sewell, Al Gore, Johny Sroujli, and others.
Notice that former US Vice President, Al Gore, has been on Apple’s board of directors since 2003. In 2017, Al Gore sold part of his shares for over $29 million.
Now he owns a remaining 112,064 shares that, at today’s value, are worth over $24 million.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
