“It was a stinging blow for Steve Jobs when a boardroom power struggle ousted him from Apple, the company he co-founded as a 21-year-old. A friend was so concerned over what the distraught Jobs might do that he drove to his house and sat with him for hours,” Andrew Farrell reports for Forbes.
MacDailyNews Take: Not that Jobs was considering it, but this is an excellent reminder that suicide is a terrible waste. You never know what’s going to happen. Life is short enough without helping things along. Wait it out. Ask for help. People want to help: 1-800-273-TALK.
Farrell continues, “Jobs didn’t stay down for long though. He soon began poaching Apple employees for his new company Next and picked up a digital graphics company, later called Pixar, from George Lucas for $5 million.”
“These moves set Jobs up for a spectacular comeback. He sold Pixar, which made blockbuster films like Toy Story, to Disney in 2006 for $7.4 billion. Not long after, a struggling Apple came knocking at Next’s door, hoping the company could help bolster Apple’s flagging software lineup. Apple paid about $400 million to acquire Next in 1997,” Farrell reports.
MacDailyNews Note: Wha? He got the dates right, but the chronological description has issues. Apple bought NeXT in 1997 and “not long after,” if nine years qualifies for that phrase, in 2006, Jobs sold Pixar to Disney.
Farrell continues, “Apple didn’t only need Jobs’ company, it also needed his leadership. In Jobs’ absence Apple faltered severely. Macs were rapidly ceding market share to PCs, and the company was fumbling a release of a new operating system. In September 1997, Jobs was named chief executive officer.”
“Jobs’ second term has become a remarkable success story. Mac sales are booming, iPods are hugely popular and iPhones are earning the company new victories in the cellphone market. Shares of Apple are up an incredible 1,500% over the past five years,” Farrell reports.
More in the full article, including the stories of eight more billionaire comebacks, here.
Timeline is a bit off re: Pixar sale and return to Apple
He sold Pixar, which made blockbuster films like Toy Story, to Disney in 2006 for $7.4 billion. Not long after, a struggling Apple came knocking at Next’s door, hoping the company could help bolster Apple’s flagging software lineup.
Since when does 1997 come after 2006? Other than that, it’s a good profile piece.
Best.MDN take.Ever.
He got pretty rich but also he got some good friends. I don’t think it worth less than that.
steve jobs uber alles
“‘Shares of Apple are up an incredible 1,500% over the past five years,’ Farrell reports.”
And so is my brokerage account!
Wow, are they trying to paint Steve as some sort of Prince of Denmark?
@anonymous
They aren’t trying to “paint” anything. He is a Prince! And not of Denmark!
The Prince of Denmark didn’t fare all that well.
Hamlet and almost everybody else around him dies before the end of the play.
Big deal. I am currently working on making my second billion dollars!!!
(I gave up on the first)
Wow, Pretty serious MDN Note!
This is off topic but something is causing my Safari to crash just after 58 of 60 items loads. I think its an ad (M$ ????). I’m running OS x 10.2.8 with Safari that came with it. I now have to go to Firefox to read MDN. Something is not fair
Grumpy… you are using an OS that was originally released in Aug. of 02! and it hasn’t been updated for over 4 and a half years. Catch up.
Life is short be Happy!
http://www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org
His facts are not quite right either. According to “iCon: Steve Jobs – The Second Greatest Act in the History of Business”, he paid $10 million for Pixar, which was still far less than the $30 million that Lucas was asking.
Also, while Apple was pretty desperate when they acquired NeXT, NeXT was in pretty bad shape too, and probably would have been in dire straits before too long if not for the acquisition.
I just want the money I had when Apple was priced in December 07.