10 Fun Financial Facts You Didn't Know about Apple

 

Believe It Or Not: 10 Fun Financial Facts You Didn't Know

1. The world of investing and finance is based on hard numbers and incontrovertible facts. But the truth can sometimes be stranger than fiction. ET Wealth presents 10 facts that you may find hard to believe and would have not known otherwise.

1. 1. The Infosys Technologies IPO was undersubscribedThe Infosys IPO that came out in June 1993 and priced its shares at Rs 95 apiece was undersubscribed. Morgan Stanley bailed it out by picking up 13% of the equity. The stock listed at Rs 145, a listing gain of over 52%. Rs 9,500 invested in the IPO is now worth over Rs 2 crore along with almost Rs 20 lakh in dividends.

1. 2. 97.75% was the highest income tax slab!In 1970-71, income tax was spread over 11 slabs with the highest bracket attracting 85% tax. Combined with a surcharge of 15%, the marginal rate of income tax reached 97.75%! Over the past fifty years, the tax slabs have reduced to 3 with the maximum bracket attracting 30% tax.

1. 3. Tax rates on gold depend on investment vehicles!The yellow metal held in physical form or through gold funds attracts long term capital gains tax (LTCG) of 20% with indexation, while gold bonds do not attract any LTCG if held till maturity. However, the tax rate for such bonds is 10% without indexation if sold before maturity.

1. 4. Warren Buffett’s net worth at age 52 was only 0.3% of current valueWarren Buffett, considered as the world’s most successful investor, made 99.6% of his $87.5 billion fortune after the age of 52. As much as $72 billion of his wealth came after he turned 65. He started investing at a tender age of 11 and fi led his taxes for the first time when he was 13.

1. 5. A month to settle tradesWhen shares were traded in physical form in the 1980s, the settlement of stock trades could take more than a month. After the introduction of electronic matching engines in the mid 1990s, the process of settlement was reduced to 14 days. Now the same process takes two days.

1. 6. Mad rush for Mastergain 92Prospective investors slept outside the offices of UTI to collect the application forms for Mastergain 92 when it was launched in the midst of a stock market boom in 1992. It made its debut as a close-ended fund with 65 lakh investors, a world record for any equity fund.

1. 7. Apple’s market cap is higher than entire BSE 500 companiesApple Inc’s market cap was more than Rs 164 lakh crore in 2020. This is more than the combined market cap of BSE 500 companies and twice as big as that of the 30 share index. Since 24 August 2019, Apple shares have more than doubled in value from $212 to more than $500.

1. 8. 2020 saw highest-ever public equity fundraisingThe calendar year 2020 saw an all-time high fund raising through the public equity markets at Rs 1,77,468 crore, despite being overshadowed by the pandemic. This was 116% higher than that of calendar 2019. This included IPO, QIP and OFS proceeds.

1. 9. Anil Ambani was once richer than brother MukeshFor a brief period in 2006, a year after the Ambani brothers split their wealth, Anil Ambani’s net worth was higher than Mukesh’s by about Rs 500 crore. However, Mukesh soon raced past his brother. In 2007, Forbes pegged Mukesh’s wealth at $49 billion and Anil’s at $45 billion. Mukesh’s wealth is now $74 billion while Anil says his net worth is zero. In the past 13 years, Mukesh’s wealth has increased by an average $61 per second while Anil lost $110 per second.

1. 10. Tax rules didn’t encourage too much investment in equities or for retirementUnder Section 88, the tax deduction for investments in ELSS funds was capped at Rs 10,000 a year. The cap discouraged investors from putting too much in equities. Even contributions to pension plans were capped at Rs 10,000 a year under Sec 80CCC. These sub limits were removed when Section 888 was replaced by Sec 80C in 2005.

Apple Dollars Up, Volume Down

Apple dollars increased and volume was down slightly at the end of 2020, while the top four of the five apple varieties showed dollar gain, according to data ending Dec. 26. Brianna Shales, Stemilt’s marketing director, and Katie Harmon, communications manager, started 2021 by analyzing the last 12 weeks of Nielsen retail scan data during Stemilt’s Fast Facts: The Cast video analysis.

“We are comparing a shorter apple crop to a record year, but retailers are making up for it by inching retail prices up, and that is going to help make up for less volume this year,” said Shales. “Honeycrisp was 30 percent of the category dollars and 22 percent of volume. Although not in the top five, Pink Lady apples are another variety that retailers need to promote.”

Shales suggests retailers run multi-variety ads, including Pink Lady to promote bulk which is down 7 percent in volume while packaged apples are up 8 percent. Organic bulk is down 8.5 percent in volume, but packaged organic apples is up 15 percent. Shales explains that the pandemic altered consumer shopping habits which is encouraging many apple consumers to reach for bags.

“Retailers have reacted well to the need for no-touch product and bags continue to be in high demand,” said Shales. “We’re seeing more people use tote bags to promote bulk, like our Farm + Famous paper tote bag, to promote larger sizes of core varieties.”

This data set also includes the market’s newest variety, Cosmic Crisp. In the weeks that the Cosmic Crisp has been available, it ranked 14th for sales by variety across the U.S. And ninth in the West region thanks to its increased volume.

“It’s not a lot of data to make a complete assessment, but it is interesting to see how quickly it climbed to the top 20,” said Shales. “As we continue into 2021, we will be able to read more into the variety’s contribution to the category. In the meantime, retailers can increase apple promotion activities by utilizing multi-variety ads.”

Shales suggests sticking to core varieties like Fuji, Gala, Honeycrisp and Red Delicious for their multi-variety ads but also educating shoppers about other varieties too.

“It’s a big apple world,” said Shales. “So, make it simple for your shoppers by utilizing signage and other tools to explain the flavors and uses of each variety. Then let our World Famous flavors delight them so they keep coming back for more.”

WhatsApp Dilemma: To Signal Or Not To Signal

So, Whatsapp, your beloved instant messenger, updated its privacy policy.

Do you know Whatsapp? The encrypted “secure” messenger is owned by Facebook and estimated to be worth 1.5 Billion USD.

Oh, wait. What?

The update caused an uproar, especially after Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube started suspending President Trump.

The facts were; our conversations will help Whatsapp sell our online behavior as advertising data to Facebook.

This means a huge privacy breach from an app priding itself on end-to-end encryption and other security features.

Now, Whatsapp’s 2 Billion users started heading to other less sophisticated rivals, Signal and Telegram. Whatsapp was bleeding users by the minute.

Shots Fired

When Elon Musk and Edward Snowden, Former CIA employee, and famous whistleblower, both tweeted about Signal