# Apple — Capital Time Machine

Apple’s 1978 preferred financing and 1979 private common-stock sale can be traced into its 1980 IPO. Early prices and preferred shares require different conversion factors.

Canonical citation: https://capitaltimemachine.com/private/apple

Ticker: AAPL
Sector: Consumer technology
Public-market route: IPO
Evidence reviewed: 2026-09-24

## How to use this research

Selected historical funding and listing evidence, not a complete private cap table or live quote. Funding totals, company valuations and per-share prices are different measures. A hypothetical value is not actual sale proceeds; investor access is not established.

## Funding and listing history

### preferred — Series A preferred financing

Date: 1978-08–1978-09
Event type: Private preferred financing

Continental Illinois Venture and Venrock purchased 78,222 preferred shares at $9. Each later represented 32 IPO-basis common shares; the equity statement records 2,503,104 common shares on conversion.

Reported capital or financing: $703,998

Reported price: $9 per original preferred share

Source: [Apple 1980 registration statement · SEC archive](https://www.sec.gov/files/18-02062-FOIA.pdf)
Source location: Part II, Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities, items 7 and 10; statements of shareholders’ equity, 1978–1979; preferred conversion and pre-IPO splits.

### common — Private common-stock transaction

Date: 1979-08-09
Event type: Primary and secondary sale

894,864 newly issued shares and 3,938,280 shares sold by existing holders at $1.3125 on the filing’s split-restated basis. The combined $6,343,501.50 was not all company funding.

Reported capital or financing: $6,343,501.50 combined consideration

Reported price: $1.3125 per IPO-basis common share

Source: [Apple 1980 registration statement · SEC archive](https://www.sec.gov/files/18-02062-FOIA.pdf)
Source location: Part II, Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities, items 7 and 10; statements of shareholders’ equity, 1978–1979; preferred conversion and pre-IPO splits.

### ipo — Apple goes public

Date: 1980-12-12
Event type: IPO

The original public offer price was $22. Private entry models compare with this price without reapplying splits already reflected in common-share prices.

Reported price: $22

Source: [Apple investor FAQ](https://investor.apple.com/faq/default.aspx)
Source location: IPO date and $22 offer price; five subsequent stock splits.

### splits — Five public stock splits

Date: 1987–2020
Event type: Share basis

Two-for-one in 1987, 2000 and 2005; seven-for-one in 2014; four-for-one in 2020. Together these produce 224 shares per IPO share.

Source: [Apple investor FAQ](https://investor.apple.com/faq/default.aspx)
Source location: IPO date and $22 offer price; five subsequent stock splits.

Source: [Apple announces four-for-one split](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/07/apple-reports-third-quarter-results/)
Source location: July 30, 2020 release: split-adjusted trading begins August 31, 2020.

## Documented share calculations

### A — 1978 Series A preferred · $9

Starting price: 9 USD per starting share
Starting date or context: Aug–Sep 1978 preferred agreements

Base conversion: 32 common-share equivalents per starting share, before dated public splits

78,222 preferred shares converted into 2,503,104 IPO-basis common shares: 32 per preferred share. Later public splits are added by the ending price date.

Public trading begins: 1980-12-12
Supported ending dates begin: 1980-12-12
Share basis reviewed through: 2020-08-31

Documented endpoint: IPO offer price · $22; 22 USD per share on 1980-12-12.

Formula: amount ÷ 9 × (32) × applicable dated public splits × ending share price. 

Source: [Apple 1980 registration statement · SEC archive](https://www.sec.gov/files/18-02062-FOIA.pdf)
Source location: Part II, Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities, items 7 and 10; statements of shareholders’ equity, 1978–1979; preferred conversion and pre-IPO splits.

Source: [Apple investor FAQ](https://investor.apple.com/faq/default.aspx)
Source location: IPO date and $22 offer price; five subsequent stock splits.

### common-1979 — 1979 private common · $1.3125

Starting price: 1.3125 USD per starting share
Starting date or context: Private common sale · Aug 9, 1979

Base conversion: 1 common-share equivalents per starting share, before dated public splits

The filing already restates this common-share price for pre-IPO splits. One IPO share per stated starting share; apply only later public splits.

Public trading begins: 1980-12-12
Supported ending dates begin: 1980-12-12
Share basis reviewed through: 2020-08-31

Documented endpoint: IPO offer price · $22; 22 USD per share on 1980-12-12.

Formula: amount ÷ 1.3125 × (1) × applicable dated public splits × ending share price. 

Source: [Apple 1980 registration statement · SEC archive](https://www.sec.gov/files/18-02062-FOIA.pdf)
Source location: Part II, Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities, items 7 and 10; statements of shareholders’ equity, 1978–1979; preferred conversion and pre-IPO splits.

Source: [Apple investor FAQ](https://investor.apple.com/faq/default.aspx)
Source location: IPO date and $22 offer price; five subsequent stock splits.

### ipo — IPO offer price · $22

Starting price: 22 USD per starting share
Starting date or context: IPO · 1980-12-12

Base conversion: 1 common-share equivalents per starting share, before dated public splits

Starts at the public offering, not a private funding round. Uses the original offer price and the share adjustments documented below.

Public trading begins: 1980-12-12
Supported ending dates begin: 1980-12-12
Share basis reviewed through: 2020-08-31

The ending share price and its date must be supplied by the user.

Formula: amount ÷ 22 × (1) × applicable dated public splits × ending share price. 

Source: [Apple investor FAQ](https://investor.apple.com/faq/default.aspx)
Source location: IPO date and $22 offer price; five subsequent stock splits.

## Later share adjustments

1987-06-16: multiply share units by 2.
Source: [Apple investor FAQ](https://investor.apple.com/faq/default.aspx)
Source location: IPO date and $22 offer price; five subsequent stock splits.
Source: [Apple announces four-for-one split](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/07/apple-reports-third-quarter-results/)
Source location: July 30, 2020 release: split-adjusted trading begins August 31, 2020.

2000-06-21: multiply share units by 2.
Source: [Apple investor FAQ](https://investor.apple.com/faq/default.aspx)
Source location: IPO date and $22 offer price; five subsequent stock splits.
Source: [Apple announces four-for-one split](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/07/apple-reports-third-quarter-results/)
Source location: July 30, 2020 release: split-adjusted trading begins August 31, 2020.

2005-02-28: multiply share units by 2.
Source: [Apple investor FAQ](https://investor.apple.com/faq/default.aspx)
Source location: IPO date and $22 offer price; five subsequent stock splits.
Source: [Apple announces four-for-one split](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/07/apple-reports-third-quarter-results/)
Source location: July 30, 2020 release: split-adjusted trading begins August 31, 2020.

2014-06-09: multiply share units by 7.
Source: [Apple investor FAQ](https://investor.apple.com/faq/default.aspx)
Source location: IPO date and $22 offer price; five subsequent stock splits.
Source: [Apple announces four-for-one split](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/07/apple-reports-third-quarter-results/)
Source location: July 30, 2020 release: split-adjusted trading begins August 31, 2020.

2020-08-31: multiply share units by 4.
Source: [Apple investor FAQ](https://investor.apple.com/faq/default.aspx)
Source location: IPO date and $22 offer price; five subsequent stock splits.
Source: [Apple announces four-for-one split](https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2020/07/apple-reports-third-quarter-results/)
Source location: July 30, 2020 release: split-adjusted trading begins August 31, 2020.

No separate share-class distribution is modeled.

## Coverage gaps and limitations

- Private investment access, allocations and minimum investment amounts are not established by these records.

- Results exclude dividends, fees, taxes and other distributions; they are illustrative share values, not realized proceeds.

Entered prices and later-date share-basis assumptions are unverified. Excludes fees, taxes, dividends, warrants and other distributions; fractional shares are illustrative. Historical investor allocations, minimums and selling rights are not established.

Methodology: https://capitaltimemachine.com/methodology

Research terms: https://capitaltimemachine.com/terms