Donald Trump apparently sold his Apple stock just before it could have made him yooge money
Donald Trump's persona is about being a shrew, savvy businessman.
His latest business-related pronouncement, now that he's running for President, is to call for a boycott of Apple products.
Trump is irritated by the company's refusal to create a hack for an iPhone 5C that was used by the terrorists who committed a mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif.
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The boycott is not the first time Trump expressed displeasure with Apple -- even though he has a business interest in the company.
Back in January 2014, The Donald said that he sold his shares of Apple on the premise that its smaller iPhone screens had held it back against competitors like Samsung. (This was before the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, of course).
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If Trump did sell some or all of his shares in Apple before or around January 2014, it wasn't a very good business move.
In fact, Apple stock surged throughout that year, meaning that Trump missed out on one of the great stock runups in history.
Despite some recent hiccups, Apple stock has risen by 34% since early 2014, which is far better than the broader stock market.
The red line indicates about the time The Donald sent out that tweet about selling his Apple stock. As you can see, it precedes a huge -- or yooge -- jump in the stock's value.
For anyone who follows the stock market, a chart like that is heartbreaking. It means missing out on a lot of money.
There are caveats. Trump may have been slightly exaggerating his move for effect though, which could mean he did enjoy some of Apple's run.
Trump, like all candidates, had to issue a financial disclosure as part of the process of running for president.
In those documents, filed in July 2015, Trump is shown to have sizable holdings of Apple stock in various brokerage accounts, which also include stock holdings of many other companies.
Below is an example of such holdings.
When added up, Trump held somewhere between $2.3 million and and $7.8 million in Apple stock, at least at the time of this disclosure.
But it looks like Trump's boycott isn't exactly hurting Apple. The company's stock had a little boost after Trump's comments.
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Topics Apple Donald Trump
Jason Abbruzzese is a Business Reporter at Mashable. He covers the media and telecom industries with a particular focus on how the Internet is changing these markets and impacting consumers. Prior to working at Mashable, Jason served as Markets Reporter and Web Producer at the Financial Times. Jason holds a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University and an M.A. in International Affairs from Australian National University.
