Who is the owner of the iPhone. The founder of Apple has died. Apple is the most powerful brand in the world and the most valuable company in the world

Today, Apple is the leading manufacturer of mobile phones, software, players, tablets. The history of Apple is invariably linked to Steve Jobs. Today, the equipment produced by the corporation is highly valued for its impeccable quality. Currently, the total value of the corporation is estimated at over 500 billion US dollars. The company carefully monitors trends in IT technologies and implements them in manufacturing process. Surely readers of the site will be interested in the history of the creation and development of the company.

Name history

The official date of birth of the organization is April 1, 1976. It was on this day that Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built their first computer by hand. It was called Apple Computer. It is necessary to understand how the company got the name Apple.

First Apple Computer

There are several versions. One of them is Jobs' desire to have the name more conveniently located in the telephone directory. So the "name" of the company occupied the line immediately below the name of the Atari organization, which was engaged in the development of computer games. In addition, the apple symbolizes the struggle for the preservation of nature and the environment, and for the first time in the world, the corporation began to use old expendable materials for the production of new technology.

History of the logo

The history of the creation of the Apple logo is quite interesting. Its original symbol was a man sitting under a tree with a falling apple drawn over his head. It becomes immediately clear that this picture depicted the great scientist Isaac Newton. Most likely, there were some references in the Bible, because a bitten apple symbolizes temptation. It is worth noting that the Macintosh computer models were named after the variety of apples that the developer of this product line was very fond of.

First logo Apple

However, the initial logo was not memorable and was not suitable for mass sales. Then the history of the creation of the Apple logo goes in a different direction. The designer of the company (Rob Yanovu) was walking down the street and stopped by the local supermarket and bought some apples. Arriving home, he began to cut them and examine them from various angles, after which he depicted one monochrome fruit. True, for some reason he drew an apple slightly bitten.

Jobs liked Rob's sketch, but decided it would be better to paint the apple. Boss advertising agency was against such a decision, because at that time printing with the use of color ink was many times more expensive than now. However, Steve insisted on his own, and soon the well-known apple appeared on computers.

The evolution of the Apple logo

The colors for this were chosen randomly. The only thing Jobs insisted on was that the green tint should decorate the drawing above. The type of fruit did not change until 1998. However, then logos painted in black, white and silver were placed on the devices. Such is the history of the Apple logo.

The first computers

In the spring of 1976 in American stores household appliances The Apple Computer I appears, costing $666.66. Within a few months, its creators collect and sell 175 pieces of goods. Outwardly, it looked like a motherboard with no sound, no case, no keyboard. The next year, Michael Scott takes over as director of the firm.

A new model appears, which was called the Apple II. It was the first PC to feature color graphics. At this stage, the history of the development of Apple takes a new turn. The technique included special commands for working with sound, as well as a small built-in speaker. In addition, there was a power supply and a keyboard. At that time, the computer was a real breakthrough, and for the first time in the history of the PC, its sales exceeded one million units. It is worth mentioning that until 1993 more than 5 million models were assembled and sold. Initially, variants with an 8-bit operating system were developed, and a little later, 16-bit computers appeared on sale.

Apple II model

Lisa and Macintosh

Beginning in 1979, Apple brand employee Jeff Raskin began work on a new PC, which was called the Macintosh. In fact, it was the first technique, in a monoblock of which there was everything that an average user needs to work. At the same time, in 1983, another model appeared on the home appliance market. She was named Lisa - this was the name of the daughter of Steve Jobs. However, unfortunately, it did not become popular and in demand.

Lisa Model

The beginning of the 1980s turned out to be quite a difficult time for the company. Due to regular absenteeism, Steve Jobs was forced to lay off forty employees of the company. At the same time, Apple Computer is being brought to the initial IPO and the owners begin to sell shares on one of the largest financial exchanges in the world - NASDAQ. However, this step did not give the desired effect, and articles began to appear in newspapers announcing the imminent decline of the corporation.

The situation began to change in 1983, when a talented top manager named Scully John became the president of the organization. Before joining Apple, he was quite successful in managing PepsiCo. True, friction immediately began between him and Steve Jobs.

On January 22, 1984, the first Macintosh is presented to the public, which radically changed the idea ordinary people to personal computers. This event became a new milestone in the history of Apple Corporation. By the way, the advertising clip, filmed specifically for the release of the Macintosh based on the plot of D. Orwell's work, was awarded the Grand Prix at Cannes. Even today, it is considered one of the most original commercials in history.

First Macintosh

The model received the prefix 512K and began to be sold at a price of 2495 US dollars. Its creators will try to make a technique that any user who does not have the proper qualifications can master in a matter of minutes. True, the first Mac OS microprocessors were not distinguished by great power and performance. They lacked such things as, for example, the ability to simultaneously perform multiple tasks and protected memory. However, over time, the developers eliminated these shortcomings, and the Macintosh was able to compete with other similar equipment.

Time passed, and it became necessary to create a new operating system. Having carefully considered all the nuances, the owners of the company decided to use the modern developments of the company called NeXT in new computers. It used operating systems under the general name UNIX. The next system was called Mac OS X and was designed to allow users to seamlessly transition from older models to new ones.

The departure and return of Steve Jobs

In 1985, Apple's history is at a turning point. It was at this time that the President of the United States of America, Ronald Reagan, presents Steve Wozniacki and Steve Jobs with a medal for a powerful breakthrough in IT technologies. At the same time, Jobs, who is the ideological inspirer of the corporation, leaves it, having quarreled with members of the board of directors. At the same time, sales are falling sharply. personal computers and the value of the company's shares. Experts attribute this precisely to the departure of Jobs, because he was able to advertise the created equipment in a very original way. Many believe that this is where the story of Apple's development will end.

Ronald Reagan presents Steve Jobs with a medal for a major breakthrough in IT technologies. 1985

In the period from 1995 to 1997, the development, assembly and sale of equipment began to bring serious losses. At the end of the 90s, their amount tends to 2 billion US dollars. The board of directors decides to ask Steve Jobs to return to the corporation back.

Revolution in the 2000s

In 2001, the iPod audio player appeared on the computer technology market. Thanks to its capabilities, this compact media player instantly gained well-deserved popularity. In 2003, an online store was opened in the network, which sold music and listened to it in the players of this manufacturer. The supermarket that opened was called the iTunes Store. In 2007, the corporation demonstrates new development- The company's first mobile phone, called the iPhone. Since then, the popularity of the device has been growing every year, and its sales have broken all records. Since 2008, another online store has appeared on the network. It's called the App Store. The principle of operation and the payment system of the resource is not much different from iTunes.

First iPod audio player

Appearance of the first iPhone

At the time of 2010, the company has unquestioned authority among manufacturers computer technology. It was at this time that the first tablet computer, called the iPad, went on sale. In the first month of its implementation, over 1 million copies were sold. From that moment on, the success story of the corporation does not raise any doubts about the genius of the creators of the brand.

This is what the first iPad looks like

Since 2011, Apple has become the most expensive commercial organization in the world. True, its owners failed to establish themselves on this peak for a long time. In 2013, its factories begin to produce 64-bit chips designed to work with the ARM architecture. The company releases a 2-core microprocessor, which was named A7. In 2014, compact portable Apple Watch devices appear on the electronics market.

Apple Watch

Acquisition of companies and appearance in Russia

Naturally, such a large giant as Apple acquired shares in smaller organizations. So from 1996 to 2012, the corporation absorbed such companies as NeXT, P. A. Semi, Quattro Wireless, Siri, Anobit Technologies.

The success story of the concern in Russia begins in 2005, when the first Russian Apple Center store was opened. Just two years later, in 2007, the official representative office of the company in the country opens. In 2012, the owners of the corporation register the Apple Rus company, which to this day is engaged in retail and wholesale electronic technology.

The first Apple store in Moscow

How is the company doing today?

During the development of the company, she experienced both successes and severe failures. Today, in order to lead such a giant, its own corporate culture. Before proceeding with the creation of new models of devices, the management clearly prescribes the responsibilities and roles of each employee. Any product of the company is developed in an atmosphere of strict secrecy.

The company also has its own concept of sales. It clearly outlines how stores should be designed. For managers and sellers, the principles of trade in equipment and psychological techniques used on buyers are drawn up.

Vendors are dressed in blue uniforms. Before taking up their duties, they must complete a 14-day training course. In the process of work, managers additionally undergo training. In addition, they are trained to use services for device diagnostics.

While still alive, Steve Jobs independently developed advertising strategy companies. Today, tablet computers are coming off the Apple assembly lines, mobile phones, audio players, watches. In addition, specialists are constantly working on improving the software.

In 2016, the company's management made one interesting statement that soon the concern's equipment will operate on the principle of end-to-end encryption. Its essence is in the signal transmission algorithm: the data will be encoded on users' gadgets, after which it will be transmitted to the receiving equipment and decoded. This innovation is connected with the fact that more and more people began to talk about the surveillance of citizens by the US government.

It's hard to find a black cat in a dark room - especially if it's not there (Confucius)

Ahead of the September 9 announcement of the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, interest in one of the most successful and valuable companies in the world is growing, and many people are wondering: who is its true owner? One of the most popular studies of this issue in Runet was the publication “Who owns Apple? Hidden Masters of the World” by our colleagues from KONT. In it, the author, finding out the composition of both Apple shareholders and the owners of these shareholders, identified the investment company Vanguard Group as the main, and one might say, the true owner of the company. However, gross errors were made in this calculation, which your humble servant considered it his duty to pay attention to.

Vanguard Group (The) - 5.68%
State Street Corporation - 4.11%
Fidelity Management and Research (FMR) - 3.07%
BlackRock Institutional Trust Company - 2.72%
Bank of New York Mellon Corporation - 1.42%
Northern Trust Corporation - 1.39%
BlackRock Fund Advisors - 1.21%

This information is from open sources and is in good agreement with the latest data from Yahoo Finance. Information about the owners of the State Street Corporation is not currently available, but according to the author of the article, the Vanguard Group owns 6% of it - the third largest share. The second largest share of State Street Corporation, according to the author, belongs to T. Rowe Price Group, in which, according to our data, the first largest share (6.19%) belongs to the Vanguard Group, and the second - to the same State Street Corporation (4.92%).

By summing up all these small Vanguard Group stakes in Apple and its shareholders, the author calculated 17% and effectively declared this investment group the owner of the company. Arithmetic calculations are richly flavored with conspiracy theories: the author claims that "all the world's largest companies belong to the same bunch of people" who "need to create the appearance that there are supposedly many owners (shareholders) and they are all different."

With all understanding of the bewitching appeal of conspiracy theories, they are one of the biggest misconceptions of mankind. On the one hand, people are trying to find an explanation for the events taking place in the world, and on the other hand, they do not have enough knowledge to make this explanation adequate to reality. In the old days, sorcerers with witches were blamed for the loss of livestock, crop failures, or other similar misfortunes, and now inquisitive conspiracy lovers are looking for conspiracies everywhere. But the truth is usually much more prosaic.

In our case, the author of the article was summed up by ignorance of the principles financial reporting. Over the past decades, it has pursued the goal of giving investors the most reliable and complete picture of the financial condition of their investment object. Unlike formal and, by and large, useless reporting compiled according to Russian standards for statistics and tax authorities, in the Western world, reliable financial reporting is the main source of information for all interested parties, and primarily for investors.

This introduction is necessary to understand that the rules of financial reporting in the West (IFRS in Europe, US GAAP in the USA) are akin to a military charter - they were written, if not in blood, then at least taking into account the scandals shaking the stock exchange caused by the manipulation of financial reporting or simply by the shortcomings of the rules. its compilation. These are not just general norms by which they show their financial position large companies, but the rules that allow you to do this as completely and reliably as possible, taking into account the experience accumulated by the financial world.

So, in accordance with the principles of modern financial reporting, one of the signs of control over a company by an investor is that this investor owns at least 50% of its shares. For influence, as a rule, 20% is enough. Those. the author's estimate of the Vanguard Group's stake in Apple (17%) does not even reach the level of influence. But more importantly, this assessment is completely contrary to the principle of determining equity used in the preparation of consolidated financial statements (they show financial condition not only of an individual company, but of all the companies it controls). This principle is that if company "A" owns company "B" by 50% (and therefore we can already talk about control), and company "B", in turn, owns company "C" by 50%, then company "A" actually controls company "C", although its estimated share in this company will already be well below 50%: 0.5 x 0.5 = 0.25, i.e. 25%.

The point of this approach is that having control over company B, company A can appoint a director there. Having become a director in company B, which in turn controls company C, that director can appoint a director in company C to a person nominated by company A. As a result, despite only having a 25% ultimate interest in company C, company A can appoint its management there - and therefore controls it. But for this prerequisite is the control of "A" over "B" and "B" over "C", which individually requires at least 50% shareholding.

In practice, situations are possible when, against the backdrop of many small shareholders, the actual control over the company is acquired by a single relatively large investor, but, firstly, in the case of Apple, we see several such investors, and secondly, in the presence of such control, this information was would have been disclosed, and the Vanguard Group in its reporting showed Apple not as an object of financial investments, but as own company in the consolidated financial statements.

Therefore, even if Apple's capital is scattered among thousands or millions of small shareholders, it is incorrect to regard as the controlling owner an investor who only has a relatively large stake in this company. We see that there are several investors with relatively large stakes in Apple, just like in the capital structure of these investors there are several large stakes owned by other investors. Putting together the scattered shares of the Vanguard Group in different companies is like treating a slight sympathy of all the managers of a corporation for a young secretary as her control over the board of directors. By marrying one of them, she, under certain circumstances, can really get control over him, but easy sympathies different people in one big and bright feeling, alas, does not add up.

Returning to the great and terrible Vanguard Group, we note that according to a recent report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the combined share of this group as a beneficial owner (i.e. taking into account direct and indirect share ownership) is only 5.66%. If the Vanguard Group's shares spread across Apple's other shareholders had any cumulative effect, then this information would be reflected in the report.

So who then owns Apple, you ask? All shareholders of the company, and at the same time none of them. Such is the specificity of modern capitalism, which was written about with some tinge of regret in Soviet textbooks of political economy: as the wealth of the middle class grows, its savings are accumulated and invested in various enterprises of the real economy (such as Apple) through various financial institutions: investment groups ( such as the Vanguard Group), banks, insurance companies, pension funds. Companies themselves are making similar investments - recall that in the second quarter of 2015, Apple's reserves exceeded $ 200 billion, and part of this money was probably invested in institutions like the Vanguard Group. The investments of these institutions in the real economy, as a rule, are so dispersed that it is simply pointless to talk about some kind of influence, and even more so control.

No one pursues such a goal, but even if they have a direct influence on the real economy, people in the financial world are not so reckless as to interfere in matters in which they understand little. Dividends are paid, stock prices are rising - that's fine. If serious problems arise, then the shareholders either get rid of the shares, or quite unanimously appoint new managers to the board of directors who will figure out how to solve all the problems and save them, the shareholders, investments. Regardless of who and to what extent shows this activity, the only concern of all investors is to preserve and increase their investments - no matter how lovers of conspiracy theories ascribe to them the desire for world power. In the end, this power itself is brought by money, and not by the color in which the backstage owners of Apple will order to paint the next iPhone at their secret meeting ...

If the stock price of the corporation, as the investor and the main shareholder of the company insists Apple(Carl Icahn), after a recent drop will soar from the current $130 to $216, holders valuable papers richer than half a trillion dollars. Who exactly hypothetically will get such a colossal pile of money?

In contact with

At Apple"nothing at all", according to official figures, a little more than $200 billion, and most of the funds of the entire company of $700 billion actually belong to the owners of its shares. Among them are almost all the bosses of the apple corporation itself, many of the strong and rich of this world, plus the same odious investor Mr. Icahn, who believes that these securities are greatly undervalued. An important point - he does not care about the sales of the iPhone lineup, as well as the object in Cupertino itself - the financier talks directly about virtual wealth. After all, if each share increases in price, he will potentially earn very, very much.

In fact, this is a drop in the ocean, because the media referred to as "the largest holder of Apple securities" Carl Icahn, according to the register of shareholders, owns only 1% of the shares. You can not remember the shares, Federighi and others at all - a huge value for a person, but insignificant amounts on the scale of all corporations. But then who controls the really large stakes in Apple?

The answer will be found all in the same document:

1. Vanguard Group Inc. (The) 5.68%;
2 . State Street Corporation 4.11%;
3. FMR, LLC 3.07%;
4. BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. 2.72%;
5. Bank of New York Mellon Corporation 1.42%;
6. Northern Trust Corporation 1.39%;
7. BlackRock Fund Advisors 1.21%

And then it’s worth turning to the calculations of researchers from the cont.ws portal, who decided to dig deeper. After all, behind each of the items on this list is extensive network commercial structures whose own shares are also traded on the stock exchange. And that means that, in turn, they belong to someone - the threads stretch in a very bizarre way, but not at all chaotically.

In contrast, the second-ranked State Street Corporation lists its own major shareholders as follows: Price (T. Rowe) Associates Inc (7%), Vanguard Group (6%) and BlackRock (5%). Moreover, according to the Yahoo! directory, Vanguard Group controls the main stake in Price (T.Rowe), and the second largest owner of this company's securities is the State Street Corporation. Yes, yes, the same corporation whose 7% stake is owned by Price (T.Rowe) is such mutual assistance.

The familiar name BlackRock refers to the legion of subsidiaries and funds, most of which have the same Vanguard Group and State Street Corporation as the leading shareholders. As the journalists calculated, in the case of Apple the first company concentrated at least 17% of all its shares by such indirect methods. Actually, nothing surprising, since it has long penetrated all the dominant financial empires planets. And besides Apple and IT giants, controls the money of all-all-all.

Recently, the world was shocked by sensational news - the capitalization of the Bitten Apple company exceeded $ 700 billion. But that's not all: "Apple investor and major shareholder Carl Icahn has valued a single Apple share at $216, $91 more than its current value.

Recently, the world was shocked by sensational news - the capitalization of the Bitten Apple company exceeded $ 700 billion.

But that's not all:

"The investor and the main shareholder of Apple, Carl Icahn, estimated the value of one share of this company at $216, which is $91 higher than their current value. According to Icahn, Apple's capitalization should be about $1.3 trillion" (RBC)

Let's leave the question of the fairness of such a fantastic share price, and accept as a fact that Apple is the world's largest company. Let's ask a simple but delicate question, who owns this company, at a cost equal to the budgets of several European countries combined?

It would seem that the quote from RBC clearly states that the main shareholder is a certain Karl Icahn, an eccentric billionaire, a cynical business shark, a well-known raider and extortionist, a brawler and much more. Actually, it is he who is most often mentioned in the media as the main shareholder and newsmaker. There is also Tim Cook - CEO Apple (the one that is officially gay), but he is a figure appointed by shareholders, that is, he is not the owner in any way.

However, after carefully studying the situation, we discover a surprising fact - billionaire Carl Icahn owns only 1 (one) percent of Apple shares. Of course, the cost of even one percent is a huge amount, but it's only one hundredth! Where is the rest? The question is not that hidden, but on the example of the same RBC, it is not only hushed up, but also openly falsified in the media.

Is it really difficult to look at open and completely official data from the register of shareholders? There is nothing easier, and we can easily do it ourselves:

Vanguard Group Inc. (The) 5.68%

State Street Corporation 4.11%

FMR, LLC 3.07%

BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. 2.72%

Bank of New York Mellon Corporation 1.42%

Northern Trust Corporation 1.39%

BlackRock Fund Advisors 1.21%

Amazing. discovery, but Carl Icahn is not even among the top ten shareholders of Apple! Who are these mysterious real owners?

In the first place is the Vanguard Group - for the uninitiated reader, and for many economists the name is unfamiliar, although in any reference book you can find information that the company controls assets of as much as 2 trillion dollars (2000 billion dollars). Which is three times the cost of the same Apple! These are the humble ones. In fact, the amount of assets under their control is several times larger, but we will analyze this later.

Before proceeding to a further analysis of the structure of shareholders and ownership, a small lyrical digression should be made.

The ideals of democracy (C) and the media image that serves as a screen for true owners do not sit well with the fact that all the world's largest companies are owned by the same bunch of people. How to hide this apparent contradiction? Everything is very simple - you need to create the appearance that there are supposedly many owners (shareholders) and they are all "different".

Indeed, how can the "masters of the world" have a miserable 5-6% of the shares? Yes, any liberal will laugh in your face if you tell him this. The fact that these "pathetic six percent" are worth forty-fifty billion dollars does not bother anyone - with such a modest package, it is already a problem to securely appoint your own general director. To completely control a company with a turnover of hundreds of billions of dollars, twenty percent is required - no more is needed, since it is impossible for competitors to collect a bag of more than 20% (it will cost under a hundred yards of $).

And suddenly, some Chinese will buy as much as seven percent of the shares and they will be able to run everything in the largest American company?

"Don't be like that!" - the real masters of the world decided a long time ago and secured themselves.

To understand how they exercised total control and maintained the appearance of the absence of one owner, we return to our list of shareholders. Company in second place:

State Street Corporation - owns 4.11%

And who are they, the ordinary reader will ask? And again, Google (yahoo) to help us:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=STT+Major+Holders

And who are its largest shareholders?

1.Massachusetts Financial Services Co (Canadian Insurance Company- who owns confused)

2.Price (T.Rowe) Associates Inc - 7%

3.Vanguard Group (where without him!) - 6%

4. BlackRock (the turn will come to him soon!) - 5%

We look even deeper who is the shareholder of Price (T.Rowe) Associates Inc.

and we see all the same acquaintances: Vanguard and BlackRock (remember this name, they often meet, going hand in hand with our main character)

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=TRow+Major+Holders

That is, in exactly the same manner, the monster Vanguard controls the second main shareholder of Apple! A simple trick and ten percent of the apple's shares are already in your pocket. But that's not all!

In the top ten there are two offices with the similar name BlackRock & BlaBla and the third time the BlackRock name is mentioned in State Street shareholders. (by the way, Vanguard has such subsidiaries dozens - so it’s not a fact that we can even approximately count all their possessions - even the largest ones)

Naturally, among the owners of BlackRock we find all the same faces:

We add another four percent and we already get 14% of all Apple shares held by one office - Vanguard! And again, that's not all.

What else is left among the dummy owners of Yabluka?

FMR LLC (Fidelity Management and Research), Fidelity Investments similarly, we will find exactly identical names among the shareholders: Blackrock, Vanguard, State Street and so on.

That is, Fidelity is again controlled by the Vanguard Group!

Total: in the piggy bank "modest" 17%.

A wonderful scheme of mutual ownership and cross-corporation. And if any of the shareholders seems not directly related to Vanguard, then its shareholders are definitely under their control, and even in the third iteration (level) it will be the same.

That is Vanguard:

1. Officially - the main shareholder of Apple. For comparison, the clown who publicly portrays the largest shareholder of Apple - Carl Icahn has only 1% of the shares, which is five times less than one of this package.

2. Vanguard also has the largest stakes in almost every other company that owns large stakes in Apple. But even that is not enough!

3. Vanguard, not only owns the largest stakes of shares, but also controls the shareholders of companies from point 2. !!!

And in conclusion, a quote from Tatyana Volkova's blog in the topic:

About the octopus, the pyramid - and in general the continuation of the Vanguard

This is the picture that has emerged to date of the investigation. The largest companies in the world are Bank of America, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Let's see who their biggest shareholders are. Bank of America: State Street Corporation, Vanguard Group, BlackRock, FMR (Fidelity), Paulson, JP Morgan, T. Rowe, Capital World Investors, AXA, Bank of NY, Mellon.

JP Morgan: State Street Corp., Vanguard Group, FMR, BlackRock, T. Rowe, AXA, Capital World Investor, Capital Research Global Investor, Northern Trust Corp. and Bank of Mellon.

Citigroup: State Street Corporation, Vanguard Group, BlackRock, Paulson, FMR, Capital World Investor, JP Morgan, Northern Trust Corporation, and Fairhome Capital Mgmt and Bank of NY Mellon.

Wells Fargo: Berkshire Hathaway, FMR, State Street, Vanguard Group, Capital World Investors, BlackRock, Wellington Mgmt, AXA, T. Rowe and Davis Selected Advisers.

Then check for yourself. The largest financial companies are fully controlled by ten institutional and/or fund shareholders, from which it is possible to single out the core of four companies, present in all cases and in all decisions: Vanguard, Fidelity, BlackRock and State Street. All of them "belong to each other", but if you carefully balance the shareholdings, it turns out that in reality Vanguard controls all of its partners or "competitors", that is, Fidelity, BlackRock and State Street.

Now let's look at the "tip of the iceberg". That is, a few selected as the largest companies in various industries controlled by this "Big Four" and, on closer examination, simply Vanguard Corporation: Alcoa Inc. Altria Group Inc., American International Group Inc., AT&T Inc., Boeing Co., Caterpillar Inc., Coca-Cola Co., DuPont & Co., Exxon Mobil Corp., General Electric Co., General Motors Corporation, Hewlett- Packard Co., Home Depot Inc., Honeywell International Inc., Intel Corp., International Business Machines Corp., Johnson & Johnson, JP Morgan Chase & Co., McDonald's Corp., Merck & Co. Inc., Microsoft Corp. ., 3M Co., Pfizer Inc., Procter & Gamble Co., United Technologies Corp., Verizon Communications Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Time Warner, Walt Disney, Viacom, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, CBS Corporation, NBC Universal... published

Is it really difficult to look at open and completely official data from the register of shareholders? There is nothing easier, and we can easily do it ourselves:
Vanguard Group Inc. (The) 5.68%
State Street Corporation 4.11%
FMR, LLC 3.07%
BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, N.A. 2.72%
Bank of New York Mellon Corporation 1.42%
Northern Trust Corporation 1.39%
BlackRock Fund Advisors 1.21%

Amazing. discovery, but Carl Icahn is not even among the top ten shareholders of Apple! Who are these mysterious real owners?

Before proceeding to a further analysis of the structure of shareholders and ownership, a small lyrical digression should be made.

Indeed, how can the "masters of the world" have a miserable 5-6% of the shares? Yes, any liberal will laugh in your face if you tell him this. The fact that these "pathetic six percent" are worth forty-fifty billion dollars does not bother anyone - with such a modest package, it is already a problem to appoint your own CEO. To completely control a company with a turnover of hundreds of billions of dollars, twenty percent is required - no more is needed, since it is impossible for competitors to collect a bag of more than 20% (it will cost under a hundred yards of $).

And all of a sudden, some Chinese will buy as much as seven percent of the shares and they will be able to run everything in the largest American company?

"Don't be like this!" - the real masters of the world decided a long time ago and secured themselves.

To understand how they exercised total control and maintained the appearance of the absence of one owner, we return to our list of shareholders. Company in second place:

State Street Corporation - owns 4.11%

And who are they, the ordinary reader will ask? And again, Google (yahoo) to help us:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=STT+Major+Holders

And who are its largest shareholders?

1.Massachusetts Financial Services Co (Canadian insurance company - who owns is confusing)
2.Price (T.Rowe) Associates Inc - 7%
3.Vanguard Group (where without him!) - 6%
4. BlackRock (the turn will come to him soon!) - 5%

We look even deeper who is the shareholder of Price (T.Rowe) Associates Inc.

and we see all the same acquaintances: Vanguard and BlackRock (remember this name, they often meet, going hand in hand with our main character)

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=TRow+Major+Holders

In the top ten there are two offices with the similar name BlackRock & BlaBla and the third time the BlackRock name is mentioned in State Street shareholders. (By the way, Vanguard has dozens of such subsidiaries - so it’s not a fact that we can even approximately calculate all their possessions - even the largest ones)

Naturally, among the owners of BlackRock, we find all the same faces: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=BLK