Fifty years ago today, on April 1, 1976, Ronald G. Wayne founded what was then known as the Apple Computer Company with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, his coworkers at the game maker Atari. The Steves each got a 45% stake of the fledgling company, and Wayne received 10%. Less than two weeks later, Wayne, fearing liability should the start-up run into financial trouble, legally removed his name from the Apple partnership.

It has been widely reported that Wayne sold his his 10% stake in Apple for $800, though he has disputed that categorization, saying he thought the check he received in the mail was a "gratuity." In 1977, he received an additional $1,500, reportedly to forfeit any future claims to the company.

Today, of course, Apple's market cap is some $3.6 trillion. Meaning, had Wayne held onto his share, he'd be an obscenely rich man.

"I haven’t enough fingers and toes to count the number of times over the years that people have asked me (in pitying tones) if I’d ever regretted my decision," Wayne wrote in his 2011 memoir. "I will state, here and now (but probably not for the last time) that I have never regretted my action." He added, "Jobs, in particular, was an absolute whirlwind. It was like having a tiger by the tail. It took little consideration for me to conclude that if I stayed with the enterprise, I’d probably wind up the richest man in the cemetery."

Wayne, now 91 and living in Pahrump, Nevada, recently revealed a new wrinkle to the story. "But all along, from then to now, I still held and now hold, as far as I'm concerned, a 10% stake," he told Fast Company. "I never sold my interest in Apple to anyone at any time for any amount of money whatsoever."

In my recent video interview with him, Wayne made a similar assertion, but frustratingly, declined to get into the details.

By: DocMemory
Copyright © 2023 CST, Inc. All Rights Reserved