Apple’s little-known third cofounder, Ronald Wayne, was originally given a 10% stake in the now $4 trillion computer company. He cashed out just 12 days after Apple’s inception for $800, and said at the time he had no regrets. As Apple celebrates 45 years since its IPO, Wayne may not be celebrating as his stake today would be worth billions.
In some history books, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak are known as the two college dropouts-turned-geniuses who founded the Apple Computer Company in 1976. However, for the first 12 days of the business’s existence, there was a lesser-known third cofounder who played a critical role in getting the company off the ground.
At the time, Ronald Wayne was in his forties working at the electronics company Atari. As a close friend of Jobs, he agreed to help convince Wozniak to formalize Apple’s launch. As the sense-maker of the group, who even typed up the contract, Wayne was given a 10% share in the tech company, while Jobs and Wozniak each got a 45% stake.
But less than two weeks after the ink had dried, Wayne had removed himself from the contract—a decision that might be one of the biggest missed financial opportunities in history.
While Wayne sold his stake for $800 at the time and later received $1,500 to forfeit any claim to the company, his 10% share could now be worth between $75 billion and $400 billion, thanks to the company’s now over $4 trillion market cap—45 years in the making.
