How much is Ronald Wayne worth?
| Net Worth: | $400 thousand |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Businessman |
| Date of Birth: | May 17, 1934 (age 88) |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 5 ft 2 in (1.58 m) |
About Ronald Wayne
Ronald Gerald Wayne is an American (retired) electronics industry businessman, computer scientist, engineer, and entrepreneur. He co-founded the billion-dollar worth computer company Apple (now named Apple Inc.) alongside Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. He first sold his 10% share of the company to Jobs and Wozniak for $800 and then eventually left Apple after accepting a final $1,500 to forfeit his potential future claims.
Ronald Wayne is famous for being one of the founders of the now giant Apple Inc. Of course when he left it was nothing but an idea in Steve Jobs’ head and there was only Steve Wozniak there to build the computers.
Ronald was born on May 17, 1934, in Cleveland, Ohio. He studied at the School of Industrial Art in New York where he trained as a technical draftsman. After his graduation from high school, in 1956 at the of 22, he moved to California. He spent the next decade or so working as a computer scientist and engineer for various companies in the area.
In early 1971, Wayne established his first business – a company selling slot machines. In less than a decade, the company eventually failed and Wayne began pursuing other ventures. In the mid-1970s, he met Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. In 1976, Wayne began working on the internal corporate documentation system at the (then three-year-old) program Atari. Upon completing the systems, the three then advised and started working on a project together.
On April 1, 1976, Wayne, Jobs, and Wozniak founded the Apple Computer company after together writing a partnership agreement. Wayne himself illustrated the very first Apple logo and the one who wrote the manual of Apple I. At the time, they secured an estimated $15,000 via a line of credit to buy the product materials needed for Apple’s first order.
Just a few days later, on April 12, Wayne relinquished his equity and renounced his role in the company for $800. After his departure from Apple, he resisted Jobs’ attempts to return to the company. He remained working at Atari until 1978 and shortly after that began working for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as a scientist, from which he was earning an estimated $2,000 per month. That’s about $5,000 adjusted for inflation.
Throughout the 1980s, he worked mostly for electronics companies as both an engineer and computer scientist and continued to make a lot of money.
Wayne spent the last twenty years of the 20th century associating himself with multiple companies and shops that weren’t as successful as Apple but still helped him achieve a lot of success. He ran a stamp shop titled “Wayne’s Philatelics” for several years. Initially based in Milpitas, California, the shop was then moved to Pahrump, Nevada due to a number of break-ins.
In the 1990s, the entrepreneur sold the original contract paper of his Apple partnership (which he signed in 1976 with Jobs and Wozniak) for just $500. Twenty years later, in 2011, the contract was sold for $1.6 million at auction. Around the same time, Wayne released his first book, a memoir titled “Adventures of an Apple Founder”, which was supposed to be released exclusively on the Apple iBooks Store but he later changed his mind. He retired in Pahrump to a mobile home park where he sells rare coins and stamps and plays penny slots at casinos.
Summing-Up
Ronald Wayne is a businessman and entrepreneur that’s best known for being one of the co-founders of Apple Computer Company (now billed Apple Inc.). He, Steve Jobs, and Steve Wozniak became national stars in 1976 with their mutual agreement and foundation. Shortly after, Wayne left the company and sold his share to Jobs and Wozniak. He spent the next three decades working at various places and denied numerous offers sent by Apple.
In the 1980s, he founded his own company, which wasn’t very successful. He then established his own shop in Nevada and began working as an engineer and (computer) scientist for many companies in the United States. Most recently, prior to his retirement, he released his own memoir, which sparked the attention of thousands of readers.
While some point to how profitable Apple Inc. is today and even claim that Ronald was foolish, let’s not forget that Apple was nothing like that back then. It was just a couple of kids in a garage. It would have been virtually impossible for Ronald to have retained his initial 10% stake, anyway. Plus had he continued he would have had to keep up with the two Steve kids, just not to get sued and pushed out.
No, it was not foolish in my opinion. Ronald didn’t see it, had other business ideas and a career and indeed exited the company essentially on day one. So while it’s a fun story about how Ronald Wayne missed out on almost $300 billion if he still held the stock today. That is just a story and not a true one, either.
