The Gambling Man who Co-founded Apple and Left for $800

By Thursday June 24, 2010

Thanks Jay.



13 Comments
  1. RSweeney says:
    6/24/2010 at 1:53 pm

    Had he not sold, maybe the creditors really would have taken him down instead of leaving the penniless Apple free to grow.

    This kind of “could have been” happens, I know a fellow at Stanford who turned down a 1/3 ownership in Google when Larry and Sergey were students there just starting it off.

    But he’s kind of an anti-materialist, so it doesn’t bother him… much.

    Reply
  2. Dallas says:
    6/24/2010 at 1:57 pm

    Ouch. That’s gotta sting.

    Reply
  3. brm says:
    6/24/2010 at 2:31 pm

    This real news story was teased for HOURS on CNN today. zzz…

    Reply
  4. KMFIX says:
    6/24/2010 at 2:32 pm

    Who knows.. maybe this man could have sank the company and Apple wouldn’t be where it is today.

    Reply
  5. pedro says:
    6/24/2010 at 3:01 pm

    #4 One good reason why he should have stayed.

    Reply
  6. chuck says:
    6/24/2010 at 3:18 pm

    Back in 1998 before the big dot-com stock bubble, I had an opportunity to invest in a semi-conductor company that made chips for routers, for Cisco.

    Instead I used the money for a down-payment on my house.

    If I had sold at the height of the dot-com bubble I would have made enough money to buy 3 houses.

    As it is, I still own my home, I have a relatively small mortgage, and the value of the home has appreciated despite the market.

    Reply
  7. bobbo, int'l pastry chef and student of Freud says:
    6/24/2010 at 3:58 pm

    Sounds to me like he was never “part of” Apple to begin with–he did a favor for two friends. Seems to me in times of yore maybe it took three live human beings to form a corp and he just filled a slot on the formation papers. Or, as he said==he didn’t want to get into all the legal hassles he saw coming.

    Engineer.

    Reply
  8. bobbo, int'l pastry chef and student of Freud says:
    6/24/2010 at 4:02 pm

    forgot to add–I heard it so long ago don’t remember the source, and cant confirm it on google, but didn’t Bill Gates offer to sell Microsoft to IBM for $50K, and IBM declined because its attorney’s said it would be an illegal tying arrangement? ie–two bad decisions in a row.

    I tend to doubt it. So, you could back up to the guy that sold Gates the program Gates licensed to IBM. Given Gates was in a corner, I’ll bet the guy could have gotten 10% or more.

    Richest guy I ever personally knew–son of a politician in Iran. He got .003 cents for every some American Brand of cigarette sold in the Middle East. It adds up.

    Reply
  9. LaMoora says:
    6/24/2010 at 4:29 pm

    We should hope that his book isn’t as bland as his personality, home décor and business sense.

    Reply
  10. /T. says:
    6/24/2010 at 8:09 pm

    @ #5 Pedro — Zing !! … Har !!

    Re:Mr. Wayne,

    Somewhat refreshing to see someone accepting responsibility for their decisions.

    Kinda been a while …

    Reply
  11. BrimstoneAshe says:
    6/25/2010 at 11:33 am

    Wow, it’s almost like the CNN reporter brought a backpack full of salt to rub on the wound didn’t he? Flipping through old photos and showing videos of Steve Jobs on an i-Pad? It’s like the reporter was almost trying to get this guy to snap haha.

    Reply
  12. totalmarketing says:
    6/25/2010 at 12:15 pm

    Pete Best

    Reply
  13. JPD says:
    6/25/2010 at 6:49 pm

    It might be a nice gesture if the other two co-founders could maybe contribute a forward for the book.Just a thought.

    Reply

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