Apple, founded in 1977 to sell hobbyist computers, is currently celebrating its 50th year and is one of the most valuable companies today. However, this wasn’t the case back then, with venture capital firm Sequoia Capital sharing its founder’s memo regarding a potential $600,000 financing for the then-fledgling firm. According to the firm’s X post, its founder, Don Valentine, wrote the note, saying that Apple’s request will give it 10% of equity in the startup with a market greater than $500 million.
In honor of 50 years of Apple, we’re sharing – for the first time ever – Don Valentine’s original 1977 memo for Sequoia’s investment into Apple Computer. #Apple50 pic.twitter.com/Ihqu6xoFptApril 1, 2026
“Leading company in a hot biz… $600k buys 10% — very rich deal, management questionable for evaluation. Proposed financing structure: $60k to A.L-S, $60k to AG — friends of CMS, $480k to one venture investor… invitees: 1) Venrock 2) CMS 3) A. Rock 4) Bank Amer 5) Citicorp — Venrock has inside track, CMS second,” Valentine said in the memo. “Will be tough to do this deal: small amt available, high price, second position. CMS wants guarantee of min $, at least $100k & we will decide in Dec.”
|
Date |
Split |
Equivalent Shares |
Share Price |
Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
03-Nov-77 |
– |
10% |
– |
600,000.00 |
|
12-Dec-80 |
– |
460,000.00 |
22 |
10,120,000.00 |
|
16-Jun-87 |
2-to-1 |
920,000.00 |
39.5 |
36,340,000.00 |
|
21-Jun-00 |
2-to-1 |
1,840,000.00 |
50.63 |
93,150,000.00 |
|
28-Feb-05 |
2-to-1 |
3,680,000.00 |
44.5 |
163,741,600.00 |
|
09-Jun-14 |
7-to-1 |
25,760,000.00 |
92.22 |
2,375,697,600.00 |
|
31-Aug-20 |
4-to-1 |
103,040,000.00 |
124.81 |
12,860,164,800.00 |
|
04-Apr-26 |
– |
103,040,000.00 |
255.92 |
26,369,996,800.00 |
Since Apple was a private entity back in 1977, we do not have a public record of how much each share of the company cost at that time. However, it went public in 1980, selling 4.6 million shares at $22 per share. That meant that Sequioa Capital’s $600,000 investment was already worth $10,120,000 at that time, turning early investors into millionaires. The company has since gone through multiple stock splits, meaning a single share from 1980 is equal to 224 today. That makes the original 460,000 shares under consideration by the venture capital firm in 1977 worth approximately $26.4 billion today, not counting the dividends that Apple released through the years.
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This shows how far Apple has come through the years, from a fledgling company focused on selling kits to computer enthusiasts to making one of the most ubiquitous devices on the planet. Valentine initially had doubts about the deal, saying that it was rather expensive and that only a small amount was available for other investors. He also had doubts about the company’s management, which listed M. Markkula as the Chairman/CEO and S. Jobs and S. Melnick as “Eng Founders.” Nevertheless, Sequoia Capital’s investment in the company would turn out to be a good decision, with Apple eventually churning out groundbreaking products like the Macintosh, the iMac G3, the iPod, the iPhone, and Apple Silicon.
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