Steve Jobs: The Visionary Who Changed The World

How Much Was Steve Jobs Worth?

Let me tell you a little story about Steve Jobs. At the time of his passing in 2011, Steve Jobs had amassed a net worth of $10.2 billion. Steve wasn’t just any CEO—he was the co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple Inc., one of the most iconic companies in the world. Beyond that, he was also the brains behind Pixar Animation Studios, which eventually got sold to Disney.

You might be surprised to know that by 1978, when Steve was only 23 years old, he was already a millionaire. Two years later, when Apple went public, his wealth skyrocketed to $250 million. Now here’s where it gets interesting. Despite what you might think, most of Steve's fortune didn’t come from Apple stock. Nope, it came from Disney stock. How did that happen? Stick with me, and I’ll explain.

Back in 1985, Steve left Apple after a major boardroom dispute. Within days, he sold almost all of his 20% stake in the company, pocketing around $100 million. But here’s the kicker—he kept just one share so he could still attend shareholder meetings if he felt like it.

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Fast forward to 1996, when Apple acquired Steve’s company NeXT, bringing him back into the fold. The Apple board sweetened the deal by offering Steve an incredibly generous stock options package. Over time, his stake grew to 5.5 million shares of Apple. After a couple of stock splits, those shares multiplied to 154 million. Today, they're worth a staggering $20 billion. Every year, these shares generate around $160 million in dividends for Steve’s widow, Laurene Powell Jobs.

At the time of his death, Steve’s Apple stake was worth $2 billion, while his Disney stake was worth a little over $8 billion. He got those 138 million Disney shares when he sold Pixar in 2007, making him the largest individual shareholder in Disney. In 2017, Laurene sold roughly half of her Disney shares for $7 billion. Had Steve never sold his original 20% stake in Apple, those shares alone would be worth $400 billion today.

Steve’s widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, inherited both the Apple and Disney stakes, along with the rest of their assets. Today, she's worth $30 billion, making her one of the richest people in America.

Early Days: The Making of a Visionary

Steven Paul Jobs was born on February 24, 1955, in San Francisco, California. His biological parents were Abdulfattah Jandali and Joanne Schieble, but he was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs. Paul was a Coast Guard mechanic who married Clara in 1946 after leaving the Coast Guard. Clara, the daughter of Armenian immigrants, grew up in San Francisco. Together, they adopted Steve and his sister Patricia in 1957.

Steve’s early years were marked by a deep curiosity and a love for mechanics. His adoptive father built him a workbench in the garage, sparking a lifelong passion for engineering. By the time he was 10, Steve was already hanging out with engineers in his neighborhood, soaking up knowledge like a sponge.

School wasn’t exactly easy for young Steve. He didn’t fit into the traditional classroom mold, often clashing with authority figures and getting into trouble. Despite this, he was an exceptional student and skipped the fifth grade. Middle school was particularly tough; Steve was frequently bullied and felt like an outsider. Eventually, his parents moved the family to a better school district in Cupertino, where Steve found a more supportive environment.

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At 13, Steve cold-called Bill Hewlett of Hewlett-Packard, asking for parts for an electronics project. Impressed by his audacity, Hewlett gave him a summer job. This experience opened the door to high school friendships with like-minded individuals like Bill Fernandez and Steve Wozniak. By his senior year, Steve was diving deep into electronics and literature, with Wozniak and his girlfriend Chrisann Brennan becoming his closest friends.

After high school, Steve enrolled at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. It was the only school he applied to, despite its hefty price tag. But after one semester, he dropped out, feeling that spending his parents’ money on an education that didn’t resonate with him wasn’t worth it. Instead, he audited classes, slept on friends’ dorm room floors, recycled Coke bottles for food, and attended free meals at the local Hare Krishna temple. This unconventional path helped shape the person he would become.

Revolutionizing Technology: The Apple Story

After returning to his parents’ house in Los Altos in 1974, Steve landed a job as a technician at Atari, Inc. His co-founder, Nolan Bushnell, described him as “difficult but valuable,” highlighting his brilliance and unfiltered personality.

In 1976, Steve and Wozniak were ready to take the world by storm. Wozniak had completed the design of the Apple I computer, and Steve suggested they sell it. The name “Apple” was Steve’s idea, inspired by a fruit farm where he had spent ten days eating nothing but apples. He thought it sounded “fun, spirited, and not intimidating”—perfect for introducing unfamiliar technology to the masses.

Steve convinced Wozniak to turn the Apple I into a commercial product, rather than giving everything away for free. On April 1, 1976, they officially founded Apple Computer Company (now Apple Inc.) in Steve’s parents’ home. With the help of a third co-founder, Ronald Wayne, who later left the company, they began operations in the garage. Their first big break came when computer retailer Paul Terrell purchased 50 fully assembled Apple I units for $500 each. Eventually, they produced around 200 units, setting the stage for the even more successful Apple II.

By 1977, Apple’s revenues had skyrocketed to $2.7 million, and by 1980, they were making $117 million in sales. The public offering that year turned over 300 Apple employees into instant millionaires.

In 1984, Apple aired a groundbreaking Super Bowl commercial titled “1984,” announcing the launch of the Macintosh. Jobs introduced the Macintosh to a cheering audience at Apple’s annual shareholders’ meeting, and the media hailed it as a game-changer. However, sales slowed in the second half of the year due to its slow processing speed and limited software options.

By 1985, Jobs was out of Apple after the Macintosh failed to meet expectations. He spent the next few years building NeXT and Pixar. NeXT’s operating system eventually became crucial to Apple, leading to its acquisition in 1997 for $427 million. This brought Jobs back to Apple, where he masterminded the iMac and sparked a resurgence that gave us the iPod, iTunes, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV.

Steve also made waves in the animation world when he bought Pixar from George Lucas in 1986. Under his leadership, Pixar became a household name with hits like Toy Story. In 2006, Disney acquired Pixar in a $7.4 billion deal, further cementing Steve’s legacy.

Leaving Apple and Legacy

On August 24, 2011, Jobs unexpectedly resigned from Apple, likely due to health issues. Tragically, Steve passed away from pancreatic cancer on October 5, 2011. He was succeeded by Tim Cook, a long-time Apple employee and former COO.

Life Beyond Business

In 1991, Steve married Laurene Powell, whom he met while she was a graduate student at Stanford University. Laurene is a businesswoman who founded the Emerson Collective, advocating for various causes. Together, they had four children, including writer Lisa Brennan-Jobs, whose mother is Chrisann Brennan, Steve’s high school girlfriend. Steve’s sister, Mona Simpson, is an award-winning novelist.

Steve’s life has been immortalized on the big screen. In 2013, Ashton Kutcher played him in the film Jobs, and in 2015, Michael Fassbender portrayed him in the biopic Steve Jobs. In 2022, Steve was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And in 2023, The Steve Jobs Archive published “Make Something Wonderful: Steve Jobs In His Own Words,” a memoir released 11 years after his passing.

Where Did Steve Jobs Call Home?

Woodside: The Controversial Estate

In 1984, Steve purchased the Jackling House, a 17,000-square-foot estate in Woodside, California. Built in 1925 by architect George Washington Smith for copper baron Daniel Cowan Jackling