Apple was about an inch away to its coffin in 1997, when Microsoft agreed to pump in $150mil to rescue the company, How things have turn around in less than 13 years with Apple now surpassing Microsoft in Market Capitalization. In fact, Apple is now the second largest company in US after Exxon. I bet Bill Gates never figured that this day will come when he agreed to inject those capitals back in 1997. To put things even in a larger perspective, Apple not only replaced Microsoft as the King of the technology, but surpassing former giants like  IBM, HP and DELL.

From Google Finance

Some of the commentaries I gather from the Internet talking about this event that I find interesting:-

It is interesting to note that in 1997 Michael Dell suggested Apple was a spent force and should do the right thing and shut up shop and return all the money to its shareholders.

It’s 2010 and Dell is worth barely a tenth of Apple. How things can change. – From Silicon Republic

If you’ve been trapped in an ice cave for the last 13 years, you might want to hold on to something when I say this: Ace of Base is no longer the hottest act in music. Oh, and that loveable niche computer maker, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), the one that was getting bailed out by Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) in 1997? Yeah, it’s now bigger than General Electric (NYSE: GE). – From Fool.com

If Microsoft hadn’t sold its 1997 $150m investment in Apple, it would have been worth $7.4b at close today, a ~4250% return. – From twitter feed @dcurtis

Posted from Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.