Ronald Wayne, along with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, founded Apple, the world's second most valuable company, valued at $2.805 billion in January. At 89, Wayne lives in retirement in the US state of Nevada, far from the wealth that his former stake in Apple could have afforded him.
More than half a century after that decisive founding on April 1, 1976, its situation presents a stark contrast to what might have been.
Next, we explain Important aspects of Ronald Wayne's involvement in the creation of Apple and why he withdrew his support at a crucial time for the company.
Ronald Wayne's origins are in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was born in 1934. A professional technical draftsman, his career would take a turn when, after moving to California, he met Jobs and Wozniak while they were working at Atari.
There they created a company where, in addition to co-founding Apple, Wayne designed the company's first logo and wrote the Apple-1 manual.
Similarly, in 1976, Wayne contributed to the birth of Apple by investing 10% of the equity capital in mediation between Jobs and Wozniak, who shared the rest equally.
Nevertheless, worried about the potential debts and financial obligations that being a partner entailed at the timedecided to sell his stake for $800 just 12 days after founding the company.
This decision forced him to give up what could have been a huge fortune due to Apple's exponential growth in the following decades.
Despite the possibilities that Apple's future might hold for him, Wayne has expressed several times that he does not regret his decisionthough he regrets selling the original Apple contract for a modest sum, a document that would fetch $1.59 million at auction years later.
Today, in retirement in the small town of Pahrump, Nevada, Wayne sells memorabilia from his brief time at Apple through his website, offering everything from replicas of the original contract to autographed logo autographs that he designed himself.
On the threshold of its 90th anniversary, its story is positioned as a unique story of crucial decisions at the dawn of one of the most influential companies in the technology sector.
In turn, the future of the company he helped create with Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak had a completely different pathsince it was rated as one of the most profitable companies in the world.
After the departure of Ronald Wayne. Apple embarked on a trajectory of innovation and growth that turned it into one of the most valuable and recognized companies in the world.
Initially, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak continued to develop personal computers, releasing the Apple II in 1977, which was a significant success and established Apple as a leader in the nascent personal computing market.
Decades later, Apple has branched out into digital services, launching iTunes, the App Store, Apple Music, and more recently, Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade., diversifying its revenue sources beyond hardware sales. It has also made significant strides in wearable technology with products such as the Apple Watch and AirPods.
Also, the company has invested in renewable energy for its operations and has adopted a strict data privacy policy to protect users.