San Francisco ( CNN ) -- Much has changed in technology over the past 14 years , including Michael Dell 's forecast for the industry 's biggest player , Apple . The history of Apple has been a hot topic in the two weeks since the death of its co-founder Steve Jobs . One of the most repeated quotes came from the founder of Dell , a longtime Apple competitor in personal computers . At a tech conference in October 1997 , Dell was asked what he would do with Apple if he were in charge of the beleaguered company . `` What would I do ? I 'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders , '' Dell replied after some prodding . By that time , in the late 1990s , Apple was on its fourth CEO in just a few years , and Jobs had recently returned as interim CEO when the company acquired his failed education-equipment vendor called NeXT . Apple 's troubles were well known within the industry , so Dell 's comment , while brusque , was n't out of line with other pundits ' . `` It was on the rocks , '' Jobs said of Apple upon his return in 1997 , speaking at a conference last year . `` Apple was about 90 days from going bankrupt back then in the early days , and it was much worse than I thought when I went back initially . '' But as we know now , Jobs orchestrated a miraculous turnaround , taking Apple from near-bankruptcy to most valuable company by market capitalization . When asked about his famous statement on Tuesday at a conference in San Francisco , Dell paused to ponder the question as the audience laughed loudly . `` It 's a great question and a great opportunity to clarify what I said , '' Dell said . `` The meaning of my answer was that I am the CEO of Dell . I do n't think of being a CEO of any other company . '' Dell explained that he answered the question reluctantly and that he had not thought deeply about how to turn Apple around because he would never want to run another company . `` I am not a CEO for hire , '' the Dell chief said . He then went on to shower praises on the late computer pioneer and recalled when a 16-year-old Dell first met Jobs in Texas . `` Steve will be missed and was a friend , '' he said . In January 2006 , Jobs sent a companywide memo that read : `` Team , it turned out that Michael Dell was n't perfect at predicting the future . Based on today 's stock market close , Apple is worth more than Dell . Stocks go up and down , and things may be different tomorrow , but I thought it was worth a moment of reflection today . '' We 'll never know how Jobs would have responded to Dell 's about-face . But when an Apple employee asked the newly installed interim CEO in 1997 about Dell 's original statement , according to venture capitalist and former Apple employee John Lilly , Jobs said , `` F*** Michael Dell . ''
Michael Dell seems to regret a statement he made about Apple in 1997 . Dell had once said that Apple should shut itself down . He later apologized for the comment, saying it wasn't his intention and that " I don't think anyone would have been hurt by my comments at all...