Voting Station

Ronald Wayne

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Entrepreneur

The Resume

    (May 17, 1934- )
    Born in Cleveland, Ohio
    Worked for Atari and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
    Co-founded Apple Computer with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak (1976)
    Wrote 'Adventures of an Apple Founder' (2011)

Why he might be annoying:

    He set up Apple as a partnership instead of a corporation (largely because the paperwork was simpler), leaving the three founders legally responsible for the company's debts.
    When Jobs and Wozniak changed from selling circuit boards to building and selling computers, and needed a $5,000 loan and $10,000 credit line from an electronics company, Wayne got cold feet.
    He sold his 10% stake in Apple for $800.
    A year later, when Apple reorganized as a corporation, he received an additional $1,500 in return for signing a document forfeiting any further claims against the company.
    If he had held onto his stake in Apple, he would be worth an estimated $60 billion.
    He did not own a computer until 1996, when he bought a Dell.
    He did not own any Apple products until he was given an iPad2 by the organizers of a conference in Great Britain (2011).
    He retired to a trailer park in Nevada.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was one of the few people at Atari who got along with the arrogant Jobs.
    After he settled a dispute between Jobs and Wozniak, they were so impressed by his business sense that they offered him a 10% share of the company so he could serve as a tiebreaker when the two disagreed.
    Since Wozniak and Jobs had essentially no assets of their own, he realized that the partnership left him taking nearly 100% of the financial risks in return for 10% of any profits.
    Despite withdrawing from the partnership, he continued consulting with Apple, including designing the original company logo and writing the Apple I user manual.
    He claimed to have no regrets about leaving Apple so soon: 'What can I say? You make a decision based on your understanding of the circumstances, and you live with it.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 77.78% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 16 Votes: 50.0% Annoying