Steve Jobs Came Back To Apple 27 Years Ago Today After 12 Years In Exile. If You Invested $1,000 When Jobs Became Apple CEO In 1997, Here's How Much You'd Have

On this day in 1997, Steve Jobs came back to save Apple Inc. AAPL from the brink of bankruptcy, leading the company for over a decade to not just turn it around, but also make it one of the biggest technology companies in the world.

From changing the face of the music and smartphone industries forever to minting billions in tablet and wearable sales, Jobs has left a mark on not just Apple, but also on millions of customers around the world.

Subscribe to the Benzinga Tech Trends newsletter to get all the latest tech developments delivered to your inbox.

Jobs Did Not Have An Easy Ride At Apple

Jobs faced significant challenges at Apple. Nine years after co-founding the company with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1976, he was ousted by the very CEO he had recruited, John Sculley.

It would take an extremely timely investment from rival Microsoft Corp., then led by Bill Gates, and Jobs' inspirational leadership in restructuring Apple over the next few years. He also drew inspiration from Nike to drastically change Apple's marketing strategies.

Apple brought Jobs back by acquiring NeXT in 1996 and naming him as the interim CEO of the company in 1997.

What followed since then has immortalized Jobs’ legacy as a legend of the tech industry.

See Also: Happy 48, Apple: If You Invested $1000 In Apple When It Went Public, Here's How Much You'd Have

Here’s a look at how the Apple stock has fared since Apple decided to name Jobs as its interim CEO on Sept. 16, 1997.

Apple’s stock, adjusted for stock splits and other corporate actions, was $0.1958 on Sept. 16, 1997.

Its stock price today is $222.50, which is an increase of 113,536% during this period.

If you had invested $1,000 in Apple stock on Sept. 16, 1997, today, you would have $1.14 million.

Likewise, if you had invested $1,000 in Invesco QQQ ETF, the large-cap growth fund, you would have $10,960.

A similar $1,000 investment in an index fund, SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, that replicates the S&P 500 would be worth $5,928.

Jobs' Return, Apple's Redemption

Jobs' return to Apple is likely one of the best turnarounds in the tech industry. He inherited a distracted portfolio of products that did not inspire people, and he pared it down to the essentials before introducing colorful Macs, the iPod, iPhone, and iPad.

iPhone remains the crown jewel in Apple's portfolio – it is also the company's cash cow, fetching $200 billion in revenue for the company in just 2023 – higher than the revenue of many companies.

Check out more of Benzinga’s Consumer Tech coverage by following this link.

Read Next:

• OnlyFans Beats Apple, Google, Netflix, And Other Big Tech Companies In Revenue Per Employee: Here’s The Down Low

Photo courtesy: Flickr