When you think of Apple's founders, your mind probably pans to Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. But few people know there was a third man who started the company with them: Ronald Wayne.
40-year-old Wayne joined Jobs and Wozniak, who were in their 20s, to provide some "adult supervision" and oversee mechanical engineering and documentation. In exchange, he got a 10 percent stake in the company.
The business commenced, and Jobs soon took out a $15,000 loan to fulfill Apple's first contract with a computer store called The Byte Shop, which had ordered around 100 computers. But based on what he'd heard of their client, Wayne wasn't very confident of payment.
Wayne feared that he would have to shoulder the financial burden in case the deal went south, owing to the fact that he had assets like a house, while both Steves were young and broke. It wasn't a risk he was prepared to take.
So,12 days after Apple started, Wayne had his name taken off the contract and sold his shares back for $800. A year later, he accepted a final $1,500 to forfeit any future claims against the company.
Today, those shares are worth ~$100 billion!
Source: cnbc.com
Today, those shares are worth ~$100 billion!
Source: cnbc.com
