Imagine having 10% stake in Apple and selling it for just $800 because you were unsure about the fate of Apple as a company. In 1990, when $1 traded at around ₹40, Apple’s third co-founder Ronald Wayne sold his 10% stake for just ₹32,000. As of November 2024, the 10% Apple share will fetch upwards of $345 billion ( ₹2911292 crore).
Apple had three founders- Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. While both the Steves were in their twenties, Wayne was 42-years-old. He made the first logo for Apple and was also responsible for mechanical engineering and documentation. Talking about the logo, Wayne created the historic “Issac Newton eating an apple under a tree” logo for Apple.
For Wayne, the $800 payout seems justified in 1990 because he believed that work stress at Apple would have killed him and he did not want to be the “richest man in the graveyard”.
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In the early days of Apple, a young Steve Jobs secured a $15,000 loan to fulfil the company’s first contract with The Byte Shop, a retailer with a reputation for not paying its bills. At the time, Jobs was working with Ronald Wayne and Steve Wozniak to get the company off the ground. However, Wayne, the less enthusiastic partner, feared the financial risks involved and doubted the venture would succeed.
Wayne had more to lose than his two counterparts. With several assets at his disposal, he worried that if the company failed, it could leave him in financial ruin. Facing mounting uncertainty, Wayne made the difficult decision to remove himself from the contract, selling his stake in the company for just $800. Had he held on to those shares, he would today be worth an estimated $290 billion, potentially making him the richest person on the planet.
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No Regrets Despite the Missed Fortune
Despite the enormous financial gain he missed out on, Wayne has never regretted his decision. In the years that followed, he repeatedly stated that his choice was based on the information available to him at the time. “I truly believed Apple would be successful, but at the same time, I saw there were going to be significant bumps along the way,” he said.
Wayne admitted that, after a difficult business experience in the past, he could not afford to take the risk. “I was getting too old, and those two men, Jobs and Wozniak, were whirlwinds. It was like having a tiger by the tail,” Wayne reflected. “I couldn’t keep up with them.”
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While Apple eventually became the world’s most valuable company, Wayne believed that sticking with it would have put him under unbearable stress. “I probably would have wound up the richest man in the cemetery,” he remarked, acknowledging the toll that the intense pace and pressure of the early days would have taken on him.
A Different Path
Today, Wayne’s decision remains a fascinating “what if” in the history of tech. Although his $800 stake pales in comparison to what it could have been, Wayne appeared content with the life he chose. In his view, stepping away from Apple was the right decision at the time – a decision made with his financial security, health, and peace of mind in mind.