Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 16th Jan 2006 12:55 UTC
When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, Micheal Dell was asked what he would do to fix Apple. Dell replied: "What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders." Following Friday's news that Apple had surpassed Dell's value of $71.97 billion, Jobs wrote an email to his staff: "Team, it turned out that Michael Dell wasn't perfect at predicting the future. Based on today's stock market close, Apple is worth more than Dell. Stocks go up and down, and things may be different tomorrow, but I thought it was worth a moment of reflection today." Who said capitalism is humourless?
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Member since:
2005-07-06
Much like in Isaac Asimov's Foundation, where psychohistory can predict broad social and economic changes, yet cannot account for the influence a single individual can have, Michael Dell was "right" in that Apple was dying. Me, Apple zealot #1, didn't see a future in Apple back then, yet Steve Jobs pulled it off. From a shareholder's point of view, it's scary to think what would happen if SJ was no longer in Apple for whatever reason.
Having said that, I'd like to see Michael Dell shave his head or eat his own shoes.