When you hear the name Steve Jobs, most people immediately think of Apple. He is forever linked with the company he co-founded and turned into an empire. But how did Jobs created an empire and make millions of dollars doing it?
Apple was actually founded by three people, even though most people think it was just Jobs and Steve Wozniak behind the tech giant. Ronald Wayne was the third man to help launch the now-tech-giant. He initially put up most of the startup cash for the company. He was given a 10 percent stake in the company for his investment.
However, the reason you have never heard his name is that 12 days into the business arrangement, Wayne decided to sell all of his shares back to Jobs and Wozniak. Back in 1976, he walked away with only $2,300. Can you imagine how mad that guy must be today? Talk about one of the worst business decisions ever.
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Apple was launched in 1976, but it didn't really take off until the early 1980's, which is actually when Jobs started having trouble with the company. Even though both he and Wozniak agreed to bring in John Sculley as CEO and Apple found success, the happy times were short-lived. Once Jobs and Sculley launched the famed Macintosh computer, things quickly went downhill.
Jobs began exuberating lousy behavior and angry treatment of his subordinates. The board eventually agreed with Sculley that the behavior was bad for business and removed Jobs from all day to day operations. He was not allowed to work on any Apple products that were in development. Eventually, Jobs stopped coming to work and resigned.
Most reports suggest he was fired, but in his memoir, The Bite in the Apple: A Memoir of My Life with Steve Jobs, he confirmed he resigned even though he was basically banished from the company. Days later, he sold all of his Apple stock except one share, walking away with a cool $35 million.
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Jobs was down but not out. He started his own computer platform development company called NeXT. The company focused on developing products for higher education, as well as the business market and created the workstation NeXT Computer. It was a struggle for the computer to find success and took years before the company saw a real profit. In fact, at one point, Jobs accepted an investment from Ross Perot to keep the company afloat because he knew the computer was destined to find success. In the early 1990's NeXT finally turned a profit.
After leaving Apple, NeXT wasn't the only project Jobs took on. He also invested and helped create the visual effects industry when he founded the computer graphics of George Lucas' company Lucasfilm. As everyone knows the company eventually became Pixar, which Jobs was a shareholder, as well as CEO for years. Pixar is where Jobs got the vast majority of his millions thanks to Disney buying it in 2006, giving him 138 million shares of Disney stock.
Even when Apple bought NeXT in the late 1990's and Jobs returned to the company, he retained his stake in Pixar. It was one of the best decisions he ever made. When he passed away, over ¾ of his net worth was due to his stake in Disney. The rest is from is second time working for Apple, where he only agreed to come back if he got paid — 5.5 million shares of stock, to be exact.
When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he made it the company it is today by introducing innovative products that kept up with technology. The MAC computer changed the landscape for computers and allowed Apple to build further products that would only work with the MAC. iTunes was one of the first media players to be introduced, with the iPod launching shortly after it. Once those two products were a success, it was on to bigger and better with the iPhone.
Today, all of the various Apple products are not only in huge demand but have gained a loyal customer base. Jobs was instrumental in the development of the new phase of Apple, despite battling pancreatic cancer. His body may have been failing him, but his tech brain helped lead Apple into the next generation with groundbreaking products.
His life was definitely not a cake walk, but Jobs never gave up. He worked hard to build various businesses. Jobs also used his technology skills to make a difference in the world, as well as leave his mark in Silicon Valley. Along the way, Jobs just happened to make millions, but there is not one trick to his success. He failed along the way a lot but managed to keep trying. Yes, he had the means, but his drive to be successful is something we should all attempt in our lives.
What do you think about Steve Jobs journey to millions and an empire?