Απίστευτη Ιστορία: Πώς Ο Τρίτος Συνιδρυτής Της Apple Έβγαλε $2300

Ο άθρωπας καλά το σκέφτηκε. Σου λέει, είμαι κοτζάμ επιχειρηματίας. Αυτά είναι δύο παιδαρέλια. Και λίγο πυροβολημένα κιόλας, σα λίγο μονόχνωτος να μοιάζει ο ένας, σα να γυαλίζει το μάτι του αλλουνού, που μου μοιάζει και για χίπης. Έχω το 10% της εταιρίας που φτιάξαμε, αλλά άμα δεν πουλάνε τα γκουμπιούτερ που φτιάχνουνε κι αρχίσουν να μαζεύονται τίποτα χρέη, εμένα θα κυνηγήσουν οι τράπεζες. Οπότε καλύτερα να τους δώσω πίσω το 10%, να πάρω τα 2300 δολαριάκια μου και να πάω στην ευχή της Παναγίας.

Ήταν μια καλή σκέψη για το 1976. Αν δεν την είχε κάνει τότε ο Ρον Γουέιν, αν είχε κρατήσει αυτό το 10% και το είχε μέχρι σήμερα, θα ήταν ένας από τους 15 πλουσιότερους ανθρώπους στη Γη. Όπως ήρθαν τα πράγματα, η ζωή τον πήγε αλλού.

Wayne was given a 10 percent stake in Apple, to 45 percent shares each for Jobs and Woz, meaning that he would have refereed any dispute. But he was afraid the boys — they were half his age — were so business-unsavvy and so assetless that creditors would go after him when things inevitably went bad. So he got himself out of the deal less than two weeks later, for $2,300. If he still had that stake, Wayne would be one of the world’s 15 richest people. Instead, he sells “stamps, rare coins and gold out of his home to supplement his monthly government check.”

Wayne has never owned any Apple product. He only recently bought his first computer — a Dell.

He hasn’t heard from his former partners in years.

His main pastime seems to be playing penny slots in the wee hours of the morning.

He holds a dozen patents, but has never had enough capital to make money off any of them.

Apple wasn’t his only failed opportunity to make it big. “There were at least six times in my life when I really thought that I had the world by the tail,” Wayne says, “when I thought, ‘I have an invention here that’s going to make me a fortune.’ And six times it blew up.”

via wired