Dell Founder Said He Would "Shut Down" Apple and Give the Money Back to Shareholders. Apple Is Now Worth $3.7 Trillion. Dell Just Went Private to Avoid Shareholders.

At the 1997 Gartner Symposium, when asked what he'd do if he ran the struggling Apple Computer, Michael Dell delivered what might be the most expensive advice ever ignored. Apple's market cap at the time? About $2 billion. The company had just posted its biggest losses in history, and Steve Jobs had only been back a few months with nothing to show but a "Think Different" ad campaign.

Dell's suggestion: liquidate. Return the cash. Let it die with dignity.

Steve Jobs took it personally, responding at his next keynote: "We're coming after you, buddy!"

What happened next: iMac (1998), iPod (2001), iPhone (2007), iPad (2010). Apple became the most valuable company on Earth multiple times over, currently sitting at $3.7 trillion.

The irony? Dell Inc. struggled so badly against Apple's resurgence that in 2013, Michael Dell had to take his own company private at a fraction of its peak value—precisely because shareholders were unhappy. He did end up giving money back to shareholders. Just not Apple's.