American entrepreneur Mike Markkula has an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion as of 2012. He is famous for being the second Chief Executive Officer of Apple Inc..
Armas Clifford Markkula, Jr in real life, Mike Markkula graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in electrical engineering. After making millions on stock options while he was working for Intel and Fairchild Semiconductor as marketing manager, Mike Markkula was later encouraged to invest in Apple.
It was Steve Jobs who was able to convince Markkula to join Apple and became the company's third employee, after discussing personal computers and the market of Apple II in general. Encouraged, Markkula invested US$250,000 (comprised of US$170,000 as loan and US$80,000 as equity investment).
After Michael Scott's tenure as CEO and president of the company, Mike Markkula took over the position and served from 1981 through 1983. Despite his promise to his wife that he would only work at Apple for four years, Markkula actually served as the company's Chairman from 1985 through 1997.
Besides Apple, Mike Markkula has also ventured into other business like Crowd Technologies and RunRev. He is also the founder of ACM Aviation, Rana Creek Habitat Restoration, San Jose Jet Center and Echelon Corporation.