Cisco's storied past as the most valuable company on earth

This week Cisco celebrated its 20th anniversary as a public company.

By Brad Reese on Thu, 02/18/10 - 3:04am.

Cisco celebrated its 20th anniversary as a public company this week. And what a ride it's been for Cisco shareholders. For example, in 1999, the average Cisco employee had over $250,000 in stock appreciation. Furthermore, at one point on March 27, 2000, Cisco's stock market capitalization of $569 billion made it the most valuable company on earth. Let's take a quick trip down memory lane... 1990

	Cisco goes public on February 16, 1990, and is listed as "CSCO" on the NASDAQ (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations).
	Cisco's public offering values Cisco at $224 million.
	Cisco reports revenues of $69 million with 251 employees during FY90.
	On August 28, 1990, Cisco cofounder Sandy Lerner was fired by Cisco's Chairman who was also its original as well as sole venture capital investor/backer - Don Valentine; upon hearing the news of Sandy's firing, her husband and fellow Cisco cofounder - Len Bosack, resigned to show his support for her. The two later sold all of their Cisco founder's stock passing up what should have made them the wealthiest couple on earth.

1991

	Cisco reports revenues of $183 million with 503 employees during FY91.
	John Chambers joined Cisco as its senior vice president of worldwide sales and operations (January 91).
	Cisco shareholders receive their first stock split (March 91).
	Cisco's stock market capitalization reaches $1 billion (August 91).

1992

	Cisco reports revenues of $381 million with 875 employees during FY92.
	On February 11, 1992, Cisco earned its first patent - No. 5,088,032 (which was invented by Cisco's cofounder Len Bosack), this patent was an improved method and apparatus for routing data transmissions among computer networks, i.e. the Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (IGRP).

1993

	Cisco reports revenues of $714 million with 1,459 employees during FY93.
	On August 3, 1993, Terry Slattery earned the very first Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) certification in history, CCIE# 1026.
	Cisco ships its 100,000th router (August 93).
	Mario Mazzola joins Cisco as part of Cisco's first acquisition - Crescendo Communications and its 100-Mbps Copper Distributed Data Interface (CDDI) technology (September 93).
	Cisco's stock market capitalization reaches $6.9 billion (F4Q93).

1994

	Cisco reports revenues of $1.3 billion with 2,269 employees during FY94.
	Cisco makes its first appearance on the famous Fortune 500 List at number 478.
	On June 29, 1994, Cisco unveiled the Cisco.com website.
	Cisco's stock market capitalization reaches $10.4 billion (F3Q94).

1995

	Cisco reports revenues of $2.2 billion with 3,827 employees during FY95.
	John Chambers appointed Cisco CEO (January 95).
	Cisco ships its 100,000th 2500 Remote Access Router (March 95).
	Cisco's first business units are created (June 95).
	Approximately 4,917 Cisco shareholders of record (October 95).
	Cisco's stock market capitalization reaches $15.9 billion (F4Q95).

1996

	Cisco reports revenues of $4.1 billion with 8,259 employees during FY96.
	Cisco enters the service provider market with the development and release of the AS5200 for dial-up modem access to the Internet (January 96).
	Approximately 8,568 Cisco shareholders of record (October 96).
	Cisco's stock market capitalization reaches $38.1 billion (F4Q96).

1997

	Cisco reports revenues of $6.5 billion with 10,728 employees during FY97.
	Approximately 12,880 Cisco shareholders of record (July 97).
	Cisco sells the one millionth 2500 series router. Cisco introduces Gigabit Ethernet and Layer 3 routing in switches (November 97).
	Cisco's stock market capitalization reaches $53.9 billion (F4Q97).

1998

	Cisco reports revenues of $8.5 billion with 14,623 employees during FY98.
	Cisco becomes the first company in history to achieve a market capitalization of $100 billion in just 14 years.
	Approximately 16,950 Cisco shareholders of record (July 98).
	Cisco ships its 1,000th Cisco 12000 gigabit switch router (November 98).
	Cisco's stock market capitalization reaches $107.4 billion (F4Q98).

1999

	Cisco reports revenues of $12.2 billion with 20,657 employees during FY99.
	The average Cisco employee has over $250,000 in stock appreciation.
	Approximately 29,600 Cisco shareholders of record (July 99).
	Cisco's stock market capitalization reaches $219.3 billion (F4Q99).

2000

	Cisco reports revenues of $18.9 billion with 34,613 employees during FY00.
	Cisco 2600/3600 modular access multiservice platforms shipments exceed 500,000 units (January 00).
	On March 27, 2000, Cisco became the most valuable company on earth with a stock market capitalization of $569 billion.

2001

	Cisco reports revenues of $22.3 billion with 38,402 employees during FY01.
	Cisco's stock market capitalization reaches $152.4 billion (December 2001).

2002

	Cisco reports revenues of $18.9 billion with 35,670 employees during FY02.
	Cisco's stock market capitalization reaches $138.8 billion (January 2002).
	Cisco reached a major milestone by shipping its one millionth IP telephone (August 02).

2003

	Cisco reports revenues of $18.9 billion with 34,466 employees during FY03.
	Cisco enters the home networking market with its acquisition of Linksys (January 03).
	Cisco's stock market capitalization reaches $159.5 billion (December 2003).

2004

	Cisco reports revenues of $22.0 billion with 34,371 employees during FY04.
	Cisco unveiled the Cisco Carrier Routing System, CRS-1 (May 04).
	Cisco's stock market capitalization reaches $145.5 billion (July 2004).

2005

	Cisco reports revenues of $24.8 billion with 38,413 employees during FY05.
	Cisco's stock market capitalization reaches $115.7 billion (September 2005).

2006

	Cisco reports revenues of $28.5 billion with 51,840 employees during FY06.
	Cisco's stock market capitalization reaches $109.1 billion (July 2006).
	Cisco sells more than 2 million integrated services routers (December 2006).

2007

	Cisco reports revenues of $34.9 Billion with 63,050 employees during FY07.
	Cisco 12000 series routing platform hits sales of $10 billion in 10 years (May 2007).
	Cisco's stock market capitalization reaches $181 billion (July 2007).

2008

Cisco reports revenues of $39.5 billion with 67,647 employees during FY08.

2009

Cisco reports revenues of $36.1 billion during FY09.

2010

	Cisco reports revenues of $18.8 billion for the first six months of FY10.
	Cisco's stock market capitalization reaches $138.1 billion (February 2010).
	Cisco CFO Frank Calderoni talks about 20 years on NASDAQ:

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