The Forgotten Figure of Apple’s Founder Who Failed to Get Rich
Morrissey Technology – Apple’s founders are not only Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. One name that may not be well known is Ron Wayne, who together with the two figures above jointly initiated the founding of Apple. Yes, in 1976, Wayne joined Jobs and Wozniak in founding Apple, which at that time was still a small company. However, two weeks later, Wayne sold his 10% share ownership which was then worth USD 1,500 and returned to focusing on his old job at the Atari company.
Wayne apparently felt he couldn’t bear developing the company from scratch. Apart from that, Wayne felt too old and was a bit traumatized because he had failed in business. He was indeed about 20 years older than Jobs and Wozniak.
Wayne, who is currently 88 years old, admits that he has no regrets, even though if he had survived and continued to hold shares in Apple, he would have been one of the richest people in the world. Currently, Apple’s market capitalization is around USD 3 trillion. So if not sold FOR4D, Wayne’s shares are worth USD 300 billion.
It was Jobs who invited Wayne to co-found Apple and offered him 10% of the shares at that time. Wayne, who was mature, was seen as being able to mediate in the event of an argument between Jobs and the young and ambitious Wozniak.
“He has a more mature mentality and has a strong formula for how the company runs,” said Wozniak about Ron Wayne.
“I’m very, very excited to be a part of something that really has huge expectations and something that I think is going to be really successful,” Wayne said of his participation at Apple.
“Do I regret selling my shares in Apple? No, that’s been my answer from day one and it will remain my answer until the day I die,” he said.
After selling his shares, Wayne remained an advisor to Apple. He helped design the Apple logo FOR4D at that time. It’s no wonder that Wayne was so lost when Jobs died.
“With so much potential ahead of him and his immense creativity, we can only imagine what might have come out of his mind if he had lived 20 years longer,” concluded Ron Wayne.