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Tom Hanks starred as the iconic movie character Forrest Gump in the 1994 movie of the same name. The movie highlighted events of the 1950s through the 1980s, including Elvis Presley, the Vietnam War, Civil Rights and multiple presidencies. The movie also features an iconic scene highlighting an investment in a now $3-trillion company.
Fictional and non-fictional movies alike can feature the names of companies that are real and in some cases still around today. That’s exactly what happened in the 1994 classic “Forrest Gump,” which starred Hanks.
A scene toward the end of “Forrest Gump” features the title character saying that his friend and business partner Lieutenant Dan took care of their Bubba Gump shrimp money.
“He got me invested in some kind of fruit company,” Gump says, showing a letter with the old Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) computer logo.
The movie timeline would follow the investment being made in Apple after Hurricane Carmen in 1974 and was likely a hypothetical $100,000 stake for 3% of the company. Apple went public in 1980 after raising money from venture capitalists and angel investors.
“I got a call from him saying we didn’t have to worry about money anymore,” said Gump.
Lieutenant Dan was certainly right that Gump would not have to worry about money anymore if they bought 3% of Apple.
The hypothetical 3% stake in Apple would be valued at $90.9 billion today, based on a market cap of $3.03 trillion. The value doesn’t take into account any share dilution over the years or dividend payments.
Gump and Dan’s stake would rank them 13th on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
The Tom Hanks movie was released on July 6, 1994, and went on to gross $329.7 million at the box office.
Apple traded at a split-adjusted price of 24 cents on July 6, 1994. This means that a $1,000 investment in Apple stock the day “Forrest Gump” was released would now be worth $801,917.31 based on a share price of $192.46 for Apple.
Who knew at that time Forrest Gump and Lieutenant Dan were sharing one of the world’s greatest investment ideas? Maybe Gump’s mother was correct in saying, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.”
Hanks won an Oscar for Best Actor in his role for the film.
Produced in association with Benzinga
Edited by Alberto Arellano and Joseph Hammond
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