Near bankruptcy in 1997, Apple cut to one product and the iMac made it a giant

By 1997 Apple was months from death — years of losses and failed products had drained it. Steve Jobs returned, took the top job, cut the sprawling lineup and killed the Newton, which had burned around $100 million of a company that could not afford it.

At the 1997 Macworld Expo he announced an unpopular but decisive deal: Microsoft would invest $150 million and keep building Office for Mac. Fans jeered, but the cash and the software removed Apple's survival risk and bought time.

In August 1998 Apple released the iMac, one clear all-in-one machine, and sales took off. The discipline of one good product, a shrinking line and a partner instead of an enemy set up the iPod, iPhone and, in 2018, the first $1-trillion valuation.

The 1998 iMac and Microsoft's $150M pulled Apple back; by 2018 it became the first US company worth $1 trillion.

Cutting products and killing the Newton stopped the cash burn.

Microsoft's $150M and a renewed Office for Mac removed the going-concern risk.

The 1998 iMac gave the market a single, desirable reason to buy Apple again.

Jobs reframed Apple as fixing itself rather than beating Microsoft first.

Pick a few things to be world-class at and kill the rest: Jobs cut the product line, partnered with his rival, and built the comeback around one machine before expanding.

Apple rode the iMac into the iPod, iPhone and iPad, and on August 2, 2018 it became the first American company to close above a $1-trillion market value. The 1997 reset is now the reference case for a founder-led comeback beating a hired-hand restructuring.