Who Owns Apple?

Who owns Apple? Apple Inc. is a publicly traded company, so no individual or entity owns the company. However, the company’s majority stakeholder as of 2024 is The Vanguard Group, which holds 8.91% of all outstanding shares.

Other major institutional shareholders include Geode Capital Management, LLC (2.21%), BlackRock Inc. (7.23%), FMR, LLC (2.41%), and State Street Corporation (3.86%). The three largest individual shareholders of Apple are Tim Cook (CEO), Arthur D. Levinson (Independent Chairman), and Albert Arnold Gore (Independent Director and former U.S. Vice President).

Top Apple Individual Shareholders in 2024

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Inc., is currently one of the largest individual shareholders with around 3,280,180 Apple equities/shares worth approximately $741 million at current market prices. Arthur D. Levinson, the Board Chairman, holds around 4,215,576 shares worth around $952 million, while former U.S. Vice President Al Gore holds over 468,995 shares valued at over $106 million today.

Other prominent individuals who have significant ownership stakes in Apple include Luca Maestri, Apple’s CFO and Senior Vice President, and Andrea Jung, Apple’s Independent Non-Executive Director, with over 100,000 shares each, along with Jeff Williams, Senior VP for Operations, who owns more than 650,000 shares.

Arthur Levinson

Arthur Levinson is an American businessman who serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Apple Inc. He has served on their board since 2000, making him one of the longest-serving directors at Apple. His net worth is estimated to be around $1.4 billion, and he owns about 0.03% of Apple stock, according to MarketScreener. He also holds various options, which would increase his ownership stake if exercised fully.

Tim Cook

Tim Cook (Timothy Donald Cook) is the CEO of Apple and was appointed to that position in 2011 when Steve Jobs passed away. He owns about 0.02% of Apple’s shares, with a net worth of $2.3 billion. He reportedly received these stocks through various grants offered by the company throughout his tenure as CEO and executive vice president for worldwide sales and operations before becoming CEO.

Tim Cook, as CEO of Apple

Tim Cook has served as CEO of Apple since 2011 when Steve Jobs retired from this position. His role involves leading all aspects of the business, including strategic planning, manufacturing processes, design, and product development. Before becoming CEO, Cook worked at IBM for 12 years, after which he served as COO at Intelligent Electronics for six years.

From there, he joined Apple in 1998 as Senior Vice President under Jobs’ leadership. Since taking up this position at Apple, he has earned various awards, including numerous Fortune Businessperson rankings throughout the last decade and the Financial Times Person of the Year in 2014.

Al Gore

Al Gore is an American politician who served as both Vice President and Presidential candidate for the United States before leaving politics behind him to pursue environmental causes later on in his life, working with investment firms such as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) alongside other investments through Generation Investment Management LLC (GIM).

Does Steve Jobs still own Apple’s stocks?

Steve Jobs no longer had any Apple shares after selling off his holdings when he left the company in 1985. He used the money from selling his stocks to purchase Pixar, which was sold to Disney in 2006, granting Steve Jobs an 8% stake in the company.

When it comes to documents regarding the exact amount of stocks held by Jobs’ wife’s trust fund, there is conflicting data available; however, records from 2011 (when Jobs died) indicate that 5,546,451 shares were still held by it at that time representing a 0.60% stake in Apple Inc. As this percentage has gone below 5%, there is no obligation for information about such ownership to be reported, making it difficult to know what Steve Jobs’ widow currently holds.

Does Steve Wozniak still own Apple’s stocks?

Steve Wozniak expressed his disinterest in investing and money matters multiple times and how they could potentially “corrupt one’s values.” In 2014, while talking about the movie “Jobs” release, he declared that he had given away $10 million of his stocks because it was the right thing to do.

Fortune magazine articles about Wozniak’s net worth are around $100 million. Still, with this figure being expressed through stocks, which will result in less than 5%, it will not have been reported publicly, meaning we can’t determine if he still owns Apple shares.

Who Owns the Most Stock in Apple (Institutional Investors)?

Vanguard Group Inc. is the largest institutional investor in Apple, owning approximately $317 billion worth of shares, representing 8.91% of the company’s market cap. According to Yahoo Finance, institutional investors own about 61% of Apple’s shares, while insiders collectively hold just 2.06%.

Other major institutional investors include Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which owns 1.98% of Apple shares worth $70 billion, State Street Corporation, with 3.86% at $137 billion, Geode Capital Management, LLC., with 2.21% at $78 billion, and BlackRock, Inc., at 7.23% valued at $257 billion. However, these amounts can vary with market conditions.

These institutional investors utilize ETF strategies to diversify holdings and often buy and trade large volumes of shares. News regarding Apple’s earnings and performance significantly influences trading trends and investor confidence, making Apple a popular choice among savvy investors planning retirement or pursuing growth opportunities.

History of Apple Ownership

Founding of Apple, Inc.

The history of Apple ownership dates back to its founding in April 1976, when Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne decided to start their own business. At the time, Jobs and Wozniak had already become friends through their involvement in the Homebrew Computer Club and were looking for a way to turn their passion for technology into a business. 

In April 1976, they founded Apple Computer Company (now Apple Inc.) in California with an investment of $1,350 in starting capital from them (Jobs had to sell his Volkswagen microbus, while Wozniak sold his Hewlett-Packard calculator). They created an initial partnership agreement that made Jobs and Wozniak equal partners with 50/50 stakes.

The third partner, Ronal Wayne, was offered a 10% stake, but he soon backed out due to his concerns that the company wouldn’t succeed, so he sold his 10%. Over time, Apple has grown into a trillion-dollar company, demonstrating the value of visionary leadership and innovation.

Founders/Initial Owners

Steve Jobs (1955-2011) and Steve Wozniak (1950-) were the founders who brought together resources to create one of the world’s largest companies — Apple Inc. Both came from humble beginnings; Jobs grew up after his adoptive parents divorced, while Wozniak was raised by Polish immigrants living near San Jose.

Despite their disadvantageous backgrounds, both excelled academically, which led them to meet at Cupertino Junior College; however, their working relationship began when they met again at HP, where Wozniak was employed and Jobs was a summer employee.  

At first, they weren’t planning on starting a business. Still, it eventually became clear that their skillset could make something special if put together correctly, thus giving birth to what would later become Apple Inc. During those early days, both contributed significantly towards ensuring everything ran like clockwork while trying relentlessly against all odds — calming down investors one day only so that complex logistics could be solved the next, etc.

Eventually, it paid off, resulting in over 35 years of being undoubtedly successful for everyone involved — especially the co-founders whose contributions are still memorialized today within Apple itself thanks to its name being suggested to Wozniak after Jobs visited an apple orchard, symbolizing the unity between the two men who left behind powerful legacies as entrepreneurs and providing valuable lessons about risk-taking amidst the uncertainty that even today’s tech innovators can learn from.

Contributions to the Company

The contributions made by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak cannot be underestimated when discussing how far Apple has come since its founding in 1976. In addition to having great ideas about computers, such as creating ready-to-use systems instead of kits meant solely for hobbyists or engineers and only coming preassembled with specific capabilities directly related to people’s use cases, both co-founders also did most manual labor themselves during those early days, thus saving considerable amounts on overhead expenses.

Through these efforts, they secured funding through self-investing or obtaining outside investments throughout different stages until reaching IPO status, ultimately leading the company towards the wild success seen today.

Impact of Shareholders on Apple’s Decisions

Apple’s shareholders have a significant degree of influence on the company’s decisions. Major shareholders can affect decision-making processes at Apple, as they own large percentages of the company’s stock, giving them voting power regarding some issues.

As such, these major shareholders can exercise their influence over critical corporate events, such as executive compensation, dividend payouts, and capital expenditure decisions. The actions taken by these major stakeholders can also shape investor sentiment and securities allocations and play an integral role in impacting strategic business decisions made by the company.

Shareholders can also call for special meetings and propose resolutions for consideration. Although Apple has traditionally had a decentralized approach concerning decision-making, having multiple stakeholders with various interests involved in major corporate events allows different perspectives to be considered. This helps foster collaboration between investors, executives, and employees, ultimately benefiting Apple’s direction.

Conclusion

Apple is owned by a broad base of individual shareholders, institutional investors, and mutual funds. Its shares are one of the best investments in the world due to its high profile and long history of success. Since its creation in 1976, Apple has seen tremendous growth.

With the help of its lauded management/leadership team, it will continue to be one of the top technology companies around for years with strong earnings history. However, despite its broad ownership base, it is up to those at the helm of Apple — Tim Cook, CEO, and Luca Maestri, CFO — to decide how Apple’s products are designed, marketed, and sustained over time.