On April 1st, 1976, just a little pc firm known as Apple Inc. was based in Cupertino, California. Most of us know that the corporate had two co-founders named Steve. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. But do you know that there was a 3rd co-founder named Ronald Wayne?
This little-known third co-founder is definitely the man who offered all the cash and early enterprise experience that enabled Apple to get off the bottom again in 1976. In return for taking an opportunity on two unproven nerds, Ronald obtained a 10% fairness stake in Apple.
So why have you ever nearly actually by no means heard of Ronald Wayne? Surely he is one of many 100 richest people in the world? Has he been too busy over he previous couple of a long time sipping Mai-Tais and entertaining a harem of fashions on his billion-dollar personal island? Well, not precisely. Unfortunately, along with being the third founding father of probably the most beneficial firm on the planet, Ronald G. Wayne ALSO has the excellence of being the one that made the worst monetary determination in historical past….
Let’s Travel Back To 1976
In the early a part of 1976, Steve Jobs was toiling away as a lowly technician at Atari whereas Steve Wozniak labored as an engineer for Hewlett-Packard. Wozniak and Jobs had been pals since assembly at Homestead High School in Cupertino, California. At some level early that 12 months, Wozniak constructed the {hardware}, working system, and circuit boards for a really primary pc that he would ultimately name the Apple 1. It was Jobs who truly urged the identify after getting back from a fruit farm the place he had subsisted on nothing however apples for greater than 10 days straight. In his eyes, the identify “Apple” was “fun, spirited, and not intimidating,” excellent for a bit of unfamiliar know-how. It was additionally Jobs who urged that Wozniak manufacture his Apple 1 as a business product that different pc lovers might buy–Wozniak was planning to only give every thing away free of charge. In order to try this, they would wish to lift some cash and type an organization.
One of Jobs’ co-workers at Atari was a person 20 years his senior named Ronald Wayne. Jobs turned significantly enamored with Wayne after studying that he had expertise beginning and operating corporations. Prior to turning into Atari’s Chief Product Engineer, Wayne had run a handful of mildly profitable corporations within the slot machine business. When it got here time to launch Apple, Wayne was the proper skilled complement to the untested Wozniak and Jobs.
(Photo by Kimberly White/Corbis through Getty Images)
A Company Was Born
On April 1st, 1976, the Apple Computer Company was based by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. In alternate for 10% of the corporate, Ronald Wayne was anticipated to attract up the partnership paperwork, write the very first Apple 1 guide, and supply a basic degree of “adult supervision” for the younger upstart. He additionally ended up designing the very first Apple company brand, which depicted Isaac Newton sitting beneath a tree:
Four months later, the very first Apple 1 computer systems went on sale for $666.66 (roughly $3,800 in in the present day’s {dollars}).
The Apple 1 was an instantaneous smash hit that opened the door for the Apple 2, which was an excellent larger success. In 1976, Apple’s revenues have been $175,000. In 1977, revenues grew to $2.7 million. Apple went public in 1980. The public providing remodeled 300 workers at Apple instantaneous millionaires. That 12 months, it generated $117 million in gross sales. Here is a duplicate of Apple’s unique partnership settlement signed on April 1, 1976. Note the third signature:
Ronald truly held on to the unique founding partnership doc that’s pictured above. He offered the paperwork to a non-public collector in 1994 for $500. In December 2011, that non-public collector auctioned the partnership doc off to the best bidder. It was projected to promote for $150,000. It ended up promoting for… $1.59 million.
Giving Up A Fortune
Amazingly, in 1982, simply six years after launching the corporate, Apple earned over $1 billion. By then, each Jobs and Woz have been every personally price lots of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}.
So what occurred to Ronald Wayne? He will need to have made hundreds of thousands as nicely, proper? Wrong. Unfortunately, Ronald Wayne didn’t stick round lengthy sufficient to see Apple soar to such nice heights. In truth, simply 12 days after forming the corporate with Woz and Jobs again in 1976, Ronald determined to sell his entire stake back to his co-founders for the measly sum of…
$800
In equity, Ronald ended up receiving a further $1,500 a number of months later, which totally relinquished all his future claims towards Apple. $800 + $1,500 = $2,300.
Why on earth did he try this?
When Jobs, Wayne, and Wozniak launched Apple, the kind of partnership they fashioned would maintain every founder personally accountable for any money owed incurred by the corporate or any of its members. In different phrases, Wayne might have been on the hook personally for any money owed these loopy 20-year-old hippie pc nerds ran up. This could have been a legitimate concern on the time. Not solely did Ronald Wayne already personal a number of different corporations and belongings that he didn’t need to threat shedding, however he additionally wasn’t precisely assured that two youngsters with zero enterprise expertise, who made a new-fangled gadget nobody had ever heard of, had an opportunity in hell of being profitable.
Ronald Wayne (Karen T. Borchers/Mercury News through Getty Images)
How Much Money Did Ronald Wayne Give Up?
It’s unimaginable to know the way a lot of his inventory Ronald would have ultimately offered off at numerous factors throughout Apple’s existence as a public firm. Maybe he would have offered some shares on the IPO, perhaps he would have offered some when Steve Jobs was fired in 1985. Steve famously offered his total stake apart from ONE share after being fired by the corporate’s board on account of poor firm efficiency. There are infinite situations.
On the opposite hand, let’s fake that, with a slight accident, Ronald had managed to carry onto his 10% stake to the current. As I sort this text, Apple’s market cap is $3.2 trillion. At that degree, a ten% stake could be price…
$320 billion
In the true world, as I sort this text, Elon Musk is the richest individual on the planet with a web price of round $333 billion. But just some weeks in the past Elon’s world-leading fortune was nearer to $280 billion. But we’re nitpicking. The truth is, had Ronald held on to his 10% stake in Apple, in the present day he would clearly be one of many very richest individuals on the planet. Even if he solely held on to a 1% stake, he would nonetheless be one of many 50 richest individuals on the planet.
Ronald Wayne (Photo by MediaNews Group/The Mercury News through Getty Images)
What Happened to Ronald Wayne?
After getting purchased out of Apple, Ronald went again to work for Atari. He left Atari in 1978 to work on the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He spent a while working for a small electronics firm. He later owned a stamp store. Over the years, Steve Jobs made a handful of makes an attempt to carry Ronald again to Apple, however he resisted each time.
He wrote a e book concerning the Constitution. He’s a collector of devices and memorabilia, however he famously didn’t personal a single Apple product for his total life till 2011, when a fan gave him an iPad 2 at a tech convention.
For the previous couple of a long time, he has been retired and residing in a cell dwelling in rural Nevada. He shouldn’t be a billionaire. He shouldn’t be a millionaire.
When requested about making what some would think about the worst determination in monetary historical past, Ronald says he has no regrets:
“Do I regret selling my share of Apple? No, that has been my answer ever since day one and will be my answer until I die. There were several reasons why I separated myself from Apple. First of all, my passion was not computers, it was slot machines. I had a passion for them my whole life and I wanted to design them.“
“I was in my 40s, [Wozniak and Jobs] were in their 20s, it was like catching a tiger by the tail. If I had stayed with Apple, I would have wound up the richest man in the cemetery.“
Busch Light Commercial
In April 2025, Ronald parodied his well-known mistake in a business for Busch Light. In the business, which is embedded beneath, Ronald tells the viewers of a brand new “apple-related opportunity” that “you don’t want to miss out on.” The alternative is the brand new apple-flavored model of Busch Light 🙂
How would you’re feeling figuring out you gave up a $300 billion fortune? Could you reside with your self? Or do you sympathize with Ronald’s determination again in 1976 to stroll away from Apple earlier than it exploded?
If Ronald Wayne does nonetheless really feel any sting of remorse, not less than he can soothe his ache now with a few ice-cold Busch Light Apples.
