Apple co-founder Ronald Wayne sold a 10% stake in 1976 for $800.
In some history books, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak He is known as Geniuses, who turned to two university dropouts, which founded the Apple computer company in 1976. However, the first 12 days of business existence were less well known Third co-founder A person who played an important role in keeping the company off the ground.
At the time, Ronald Wayne worked for Atari, an electronics company. As a best friend at work, he agreed to help convince Wozniak to officially launch Apple. As the sense maker of the group that entered the contract, Wayne was given a 10% share in the tech company, with Jobs and Wozniak each taking a 45% stake.
However, less than two weeks after the ink dried, Wayne removed himself from the contract. This is a decision that may be one of the biggest financial opportunities in history.
Wayne sold the stock for $800 at the time. I received $1,500 To confiscate claims against the company, his 10% share is now worth between $75 billion and $300 billion, thanks to a market capitalization of $3 trillion.
With new investors taking part and the company being public, job ownership and Wozniak have diluted over time. Ronald Wayne would have faced it too.
Why Wayne cashed
Wayne’s decision to cash out may seem hindsight and stupid, but at this point, The 41-year-old believed he was looking for his financial well-being.
In the company’s first few days, Jobs borrowed $15,000 and completed a purchase order from the BYTE shop for “50 or 100 Computers,” a retailer with a history of not paying bills. Business Insider 2017.
“How do you pay back $15,000 if you don’t get paid?” he said.
“Jobs and Woz didn’t have two nickels to rub together, while I had a house, a car and a bank account.
Early retirement
Perhaps surprising, the only reason Wayne removed his name from the contract was not the only financial. He also feared that the experience would put a nail on the co-workers of his career. After all, Work and Woz were bright young stars, almost half his age at the time. Wayne meant that meant they were moving forward, but he had to look from the bystanders.
“If I had stayed at Apple, I would probably be the richest man in the cemetery,” recalled the 91-year-old. CNN.
“I was standing in the shadow of the giant and knew I never had my own project,” he said. Business insider. “I appeared in the documentation department and shuffled papers for the next 20 years of my life. It wasn’t the future I saw for myself.”
And Wayne remembers something he had no regrets at the time, but he admits he would have been happy not to worry about money ever since. To achieve his objective, he relies on borrowing a portion of his property and cashing out his monthly Social Security check.
“I’ve never been rich, but I’ve never been hungry either,” he said.