- Ronald Wayne
Ronald Gerald Wayne (born 1934) is often referred to as the "third founder" of
Apple Computer (in addition toSteve Jobs andSteve Wozniak ). He illustrated the first Apple logo and wrote theApple I manual. While at Apple, he also wrote their partnership agreement.Wayne worked with Jobs at
Atari before co-founding Apple Computer onApril 1 ,1976 . He was given a 10% stake in Apple, but relinquished his stock for $800 only two weeks later because legally all members of a partnership are personally responsible for any debts incurred by any of the other partners.Later that same year, venture capitalist
Mike Markkula helped develop a business plan and convert the partnership to a corporation. In its first year of operations (1976), Apple's sales reached US$174,000. In 1977 sales rose to US$2.7 million, in1978 to US$7.8 million and in 1980 to US$117 million. By1982 Apple had a billion dollars in annual sales; Wayne's stake could have been worth as much as US$1.5 billion. He claimed that he didn't regret selling the stock as he had made "the best decision available at that time."According to
CNET , as of 1997 Wayne was working as an engineer for adefense contractor inSalinas, California . [ [http://news.com.com/2009-1023-259624.html cnet, "Where are they now?", 1997] ]References
External links
* [http://www.cupertino.de/pages/archiv/bios/wayne.html Ronald Gerald Wayne Biography and Photograph]
* [http://extras.denverpost.com/books/chap0411h.htm The Forgotten Founder, an excerpt from "Apple Confidential: The Real Story of Apple Computer Inc.," by Owen W. Linzmayer]
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