Steve Jobs

Overview

Steve Jobs is considered one of the greatest business leaders of all time. As Apple’s cofounder and CEO, Jobs led the tech company that created generation-defining tech devices such as the iPhone that soon became models for consumer tech.

Born in 1955, Steve Jobs grew up in the area now known as Silicon Valley. After Jobs dropped out of college in 1972, he briefly worked at video game company Atari before going on a pilgrimage to India to explore his spirituality.

Beyond Apple, Jobs not only spearheaded marketing campaigns that continue to influence advertising today, but also helped shape modern animation as the CEO of Pixar. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work at Apple and Pixar.

Jobs’ ability to steer people toward his vision has also been widely chronicled. One of his colleagues, Bud Tribble, called this ability the “reality distortion field,” meaning that Jobs could make anything he believed in seem possible.

1440 Findings

Hours of research by our editors, distilled into minutes of clarity.

'My model for business is The Beatles: They were four guys that kept each others' negative tendencies in check; they balanced each other. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts.'
-Apple co-founder Steve Jobs (1955-2011)
Found via CNET Open in new tab
If you'd invested $1K in Apple stock in 2005, you'd have roughly $130K as of 2025
Over the past 20 years, Apple stock generated an annualized total return of about 27.6%. Learn more about how those numbers came to be in this article.
Found via Kiplinger Open in new tab

Before starting Apple, Steve Jobs cold-called HP at 12 years old and got a summer job
As a leader, Jobs was both admired and resented for his unwavering commitment to his vision, which led him to push his colleagues beyond their limits. Jobs once told a rival computer executive that he'd make a product so good, they'd buy one for their kid.
Found via Founders Podcast Open in new tab
Steve Jobs designed the original Mac calculator in 10 minutes
Unsatisfied with the designs provided by Chris Espinosa—Apple's youngest employee when he was hired at 14 in 1976—the engineer designed a program that gave Jobs access to every visual parameter, which he used to build the calculator's user interface.
Found via Ars Technica Open in new tab
Apple started out in a garage in 1976
Shifting the focus of personal computing from businesses to everyday consumers, Apple found early success with the Apple II, which sold 6 million units, and the Macintosh, which featured a user-friendly graphical interface.
Found via 1440 Open in new tab
In 1984, Apple ran an award-winning Super Bowl commercial
Directed by Ridley Scott and a winner at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival, the clip features a heroine flinging a sledgehammer at a Big Brother-style figure delivering a speech. As the screen shatters, a voiceover proclaims that Apple's release of the Macintosh will ensure, "1984 won’t be like ‘1984.’”
Found via Bloomberg Originals Open in new tab
Watch Steve Jobs introduce the first iPad
Apple’s cofounder debuted the first iPad in 2010, framing it as a third category of personal electronics between the laptop and the smartphone. Steve Jobs showed off how thin the device was (for the time) and explained how it was better than smartphones and laptops for browsing the web.
Found via AppleArchivesPro Open in new tab
One of Apple’s first computers sold for $375K at an auction
An operational Apple I, the first model of personal computer made by Apple, sold for $375K at an auction. The machine was first sold in 1976 and has a handwritten serial number by Steve Jobs himself. The auction, provided rare insight into the beginnings of the influential tech company.
Found via MacRumors Open in new tab

Steve Jobs saved a nearly bankrupt Apple
Apple nearly went bankrupt in 1997, when the tech company had only three months of operational cash left. Apple’s board ousted cofounder Steve Jobs in 1985, but he was brought back as interim CEO to revive the company when Apple purchased Jobs' company, NeXT.
Found via YourStory Open in new tab
Apple’s board fired Steve Jobs in 1985
Apple’s board fired cofounder Steve Jobs after he clashed with then-CEO John Sculley about Apple’s goals and vision, as well as how to run the company. Apple later rehired Steve Jobs as interim CEO, a role he held until he died in 2011.
Found via The Corporate Governance Institute Open in new tab

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