One of the world’s most respectable technology CEO, Steve Jobs, is now $300 million richer ($5.4 billion), according to a report published by CNNMoney. In late September, the Apple CEO, whose net worth was $5.1 billion, took the No. 43 placing on Forbes’ list of the 400 richest Americans.
Since then, Apple’s shares have skyrocketed from around 186.00 points to 204.92 points, a gain of 10%. However, his sudden spike in wealth is only partly thanks to Apple ($180 million), and the rest comes from his shares in Disney ($120 million). Meanwhile, Disney’s shares rose from 27.29 points to 29.23 points.
According to the two companies’ proxy statements, the bulk of Jobs’ net worth is in the form of preferentially owned stock:
- 5.426 million shares of Apple (most of it from a 2003 grant of 10 million shares, later reduced to pay taxes)
- 138 million shares of Disney (from when Disney acquired Pixar)
Two days ago, the Californian-based tech giant released its fiscal fourth quarter 2009 results, and the numbers were pretty good. The company posted revenue of $9.87 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.67 billion, or $1.82 per diluted share. Dubbed as the ‘most profitable quarter ever’, Apple beats its own earning projections ($1.23) and analysts’ ($1.43) in a Bloomberg survey too.
“Apple tends to be conservative in its estimates,” said Marshall, a San Francisco-based analyst, who advises investors to buy the shares. “The stock can continue to rise, especially if Apple shows strong shipments in Snow Leopard, which go directly to its bottom line, and iPod sales.”
Apple said it sold 3.5 million Macs during the quarter, a 17 per cent unit increase year-over-year and beating the previous record of 2.61 million sold during Q4 ’08. About 2.3 million of the sales were laptops, which accounted for 75 per cent of Macs sold during the three months. Sales of the iPhone rose 7% year-over-year to about 7.4 million units. That compares to the 6.9 million iPhones sold in the same quarter last year – when Apple first began selling the iPhone 3G.
Via The Register