Apple Co-Founder Missed Out On Fortune!
Airdate : 10/6/2011
They're the two visionaries whose company changed the world, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, the buddies who founded Apple Computer in a garage in California 35 years ago.
But few people realize there was a third Apple co-founder.
Ronald Wayne walked away from the company he started with Jobs and Wozniak, a decision that would eventually cost him $35 billion!!
Wayne was the level-headed older adviser to the two maverick computer geeks, Jobs and Wozniak.
"They needed some adult supervision. Someone with some corporate structure mindset to help them put it together. That was Ron Wayne," said technology correspondent John Fort.
Wayne was given a ten percent stake in Apple, but he got cold feet.
Ten days after the company was officially founded, Wayne sold his entire stake for $2,300.
If Wayne held on to the shares, today they would be worth an astounding $35 billion.
Wozniak today is worth a fortune.
Two years ago he appeared on Dancing with the Stars.
Wayne now lives in a modest home near Las Vegas.
"I live on my Social Security," said Wayne.
He also makes extra income selling stamps and rare coins from his home.
But to his credit, he has never expressed any bitterness about the blunder he made when he bailed on his two buddies back in 1976.
"These guys were whirlwinds, it was like having a tiger by the tail, and if I stayed with Apple I probably would've wound up the richest man in a cemetery," said Wayne.
But like the rest of us, Wayne is mourning the loss of Steve Jobs.
"He was a giant, a monumental, intellectual giant," said Wayne.
News - Apple Co-Founder Missed Out On Fortune! - InsideEdition.com
