Steve Jobs Sold Apple Shares Worth Billions Today

In 1997, Steve Jobs sold nearly all of the 1.5 million Apple shares he received when Apple acquired his company NeXT. At the time, the shares were worth around $22 million to $24 million. Had he held onto them, those shares would be worth approximately $56 billion today, considering Apple's multiple stock splits over the years.

Jobs kept only one share out of the 1.5 million he received. The calculation of the shares' current value takes into account Apple's stock splits in 2000, 2005, 2014, and 2020. If Jobs had retained all his shares, they would have multiplied to 168 million shares by 2026, valued at $332.89 per share.

Jobs' decision to sell came at a time when he had lost faith in Apple's board and leadership. In a 1997 interview with TIME, he stated that he did not think the stock was going up. However, just months after his sale, Apple announced a major alliance with Microsoft, and its stock price surged. Jobs admitted he could have made an additional $21 million had he waited.

The irony of the situation is that Jobs would later return to Apple as its CEO, leading the company to unprecedented success with products like the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. The company he once doubted became one of the world's most valuable businesses.