September 26, 1997: In one of his first tasks after returning to Apple as interim CEO, Steve Jobs reveals the company’s massive quarterly loss of $161 million. It’s Apple’s biggest loss ever.
Giving investors the bad news is miserable, but things are about to change dramatically for Cupertino.
Apple’s biggest loss isn’t quite as bad as it seems
For those familiar only with Apple’s recent dominance of the tech industry, it might come as a surprise that there was a time when the company looked like it might not make it. The staggering $161 million quarterly loss that Steve Jobs reported on this day in 1997 was only part of the story.
Apple had endured years of mismanagement, bloated product lineups and mounting losses. Now, Jobs was back in Cupertino as Apple’s interim CEO, facing the unenviable job of turning things around. What followed would become one of the most remarkable corporate comebacks in tech history.
Jobs did not cause Apple’s biggest quarterly loss of all time. The earnings bloodbath stemmed from decisions made by Jobs’ predecessor, Gil Amelio. During Amelio’s 500-day reign at Apple, the company lost a massive $1.6 billion. That essentially wiped out every cent of profit Cupertino earned since fiscal 1991.
Amelio stepped down from his role running Apple on July 7. Jobs took over running the company, while supposedly looking for a replacement.
More importantly, however, Apple’s $161 million loss actually reflected some good things starting to happen. The loss included a $75 million write-off as Apple bought back its Mac OS license from Power Computing. This signaled the end of the disastrous “clone Macs” era.
Mac OS 8 boosts Apple’s bottom line
Apple also was buoyed by the recent launch of Mac OS 8, which sold an enormous 1.2 million copies in its first two weeks. That marked the most successful sales performance for an Apple software product at the time.
Although Mac OS 8 alone wasn’t enough to claw Cupertino back into profitability, the new operating system significantly outperformed expectations. It also demonstrated that Apple still benefited from a massive, supportive fan base.
“We remain focused on our primary goal of returning Apple to sustained profitability,” Apple CFO Fred Anderson said when the company’s on-the-face-of-things-dismal quarterly numbers were announced. “Our goal for fiscal 1998 is to continue to reduce Apple’s break-even point through a combination of further expense reductions and gross margin improvements.”
As with Apple’s current “under-promise and over-deliver” strategy, the forecast proved overly cautious. The company performed quite well the following year.
The great Apple turnaround begins
While it sounded somewhat ridiculous in a year that saw Apple’s worst-ever losses, 1998 marked the beginning of a turnaround. The company released the colorful first iMac that year, and returned to profitability the very next quarter. And Apple hasn’t slowed down since.
But before that, Apple had to get through the disappointing earnings call that took place on this day in 1997. Shareholders willing to hold on for a little bit longer reaped great rewards, though. Today, Apple’s market cap sits just below $5 trillion.
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
