“In 1976, Ronald Wayne decided to pull out of his friends’ computer company after two weeks, fearing he could be saddled with debts if it failed,” Nick Allen reports for The Telegraph.
“After drawing up the original contract for the firm and designing its logo [‘It was a terrible logo for the modern world and I knew that at the time’], he withdrew his 10 per cent stake and walked away with $1,500 (£975),” Allen reports. “Speaking from his home in a remote desert town near Death Valley, Nevada, the little known ‘third founder’ of electronics giant Apple said he has no regrets.”
“Mr Wayne, 75, relinquished a stake that would now be worth around £15 billion [US$23.07 billion] and lives on a state pension and deals in old stamps and coins to supplement his income,” Allen reports. “Meanwhile, his two former friends Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, joined the ranks of the super-rich. Jobs is still chairman and CEO with a personal fortune estimated at more than £3 billion [US$4.61 billion].”
“He met Jobs while working at Atari in California before drawing up an agreement which gave Jobs and Wozniak each a 45 per cent each of their new Apple computer venture,” Allen reports. “Mr Wayne said Jobs asked him to take 10 per cent so he could be a ‘tiebreaker’ between the other two if necessary. He was chosen because they believed he would be ‘balanced and reasonable.’ But within two weeks Mr Wayne wanted out and decided to give up his share.”
Allen reports, “He has remained in intermittent touch with his two former partners and last saw Jobs five years ago. Mr Wayne said: ‘He had a computer show and invited me. He paid the plane fare and I was VIP, front row. We met Woz and the three of us had lunch. I’m pleased for them. Whatever Steve Jobs has achieved he deserves it. He worked hard for it.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Ouch. Ron’s financial advisor’s intitials must have been L.G.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “MCCFR” for the heads up.]
Ouch, I wish Steve and Woz would make sure his twilight years are comfortable for him! And they probaly have
Sucks to be him.
Hey, that’s life! Sounds like he got over it a long time ago. I told a someone to buy AAPL when it was 180 and he was not but after my call did so. Well we now know how happy he is now. Lol
Sounds like a nice guy. I do hope the Steves make is last years comfortable. They don’t have to, but it would be nice of them.
Yes it sucks, but it’s easy to have 20/20 vision. Look at the economic troubles of the 70’s and Apples near death in the 90’s…easy to say ouch but at the time it made sense.
You never know though how having this third guy on board would have diverted Apple from its historical course.
Whatever happened, happened.
ouch ouch ouch
Reading the article It makes sense why he backed out, at time he was the only one with any assets and he would of been the one on the line if things did not work out.
May of been one of the resins the Steves asked him in, probaly would have been very difficult for them to aquire a loan wihout him
Wayne & Goldman have no courage and probably spend most of their lives sitting on the sidelines.
@ Hotinplaya;
I’m not sure what organic chemistry has to do with this article- Perhaps Mr Wayne was a sap?
Hey, he was the one who abandoned the Steves. What exactly do they owe him?
If he had remained with the company, who knows? He may have prevented the firing of Steve Jobs or the hiring of the Sugar Water Salesman. Hell, if he had remained he may have been instrumental in the early death of Microsoft.
He screwed up the time, the bastard.
Ouch costly decision.
It was a selfish bailout it was corbis money to keep mac office having clients. Brilliant huh? Not like the ballmer guy.
This guy is also the elusive fifth Beetle.
L.G.!
Nice shout out to Laura…
Loves it!
Haha, nice to see that somebody else made a mistake too. I had to decide 9 years ago if I wanna loose 40000 dollars or be a millionaire and guess what…At least I have 3 friends that always remember to thank me for making them millionaires.
You’ve should see me when I brought Apple stock when it was $53.00 a share a few years ago! I brought it in September and was going sell it around Christmas! It kept going up and I finally sold it when it reached $209.00!
You know, when you say, “no regrets’. You have regrets. That sentiment is right up there with “I’m not saying…” and then you say it or “this is going to hurt me more than you” and it doesn’t…
Just glad that logo didn’t survive long.
You know, when you say, “no regrets’. You have regrets. That sentiment is right up there with “I’m not saying…” and then you say it or “this is going to hurt me more than you” and it doesn’t…
Just glad that logo didn’t survive long.
You know, when you say, “no regrets’. You have regrets. That sentiment is right up there with “I’m not saying…” and then you say it or “this is going to hurt me more than you” and it doesn’t…
Just glad that logo didn’t survive long.
You know, when you say, “no regrets’. You have regrets. That sentiment is right up there with “I’m not saying…” and then you say it or “this is going to hurt me more than you” and it doesn’t…
Just glad that logo didn’t survive long.
You know, when you say, “no regrets’. You have regrets. That sentiment is right up there with “I’m not saying…” and then you say it or “this is going to hurt me more than you” and it doesn’t…
Just glad that logo didn’t survive long.
You know, when you say, “no regrets’. You have regrets. That sentiment is right up there with “I’m not saying…” and then you say it or “this is going to hurt me more than you” and it doesn’t…
Just glad that logo didn’t survive long.
Well, I bought into Webvan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webvan
Bad decision. I feel sorry for him, but not that sorry. He was worried that he would owe more money cause they needed to borrow. He decided to pull out and force the Steves to borrow even MORE!
He could have bought shares at any time in the last 25 years and made out like a bandit.