Mike Markkula: The Unsung Hero of Apple Inc. (2024)

FAQs

What happened to Mike Markkula? ›

Post Apple

After he retired from Apple, he went on to work at Echelon Corporation, ACM Aviation, San Jose Jet Center and Rana Creek Habitat Restoration and to endow the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, where he chaired the board.

In 1977, he exited retirement and met Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. He decided to invest $250,000 in their company, Apple. But his contribution went beyond the financial. Markkula authored the company's original business and marketing plans, propelling Apple to Fortune 500 in just 5 years.

Before Apple, Markkula made millions from stock options he earned as a marketing manager for Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel, reaching financial independence and early retirement at 33.

Mike Markkula Mentors Early Apple

Jobs later convinced him to actually join the company instead of just funding it.

Powell Jobs is worth an estimated $24 billion, which she inherited after Jobs died in 2011.

Wozniak's net worth is estimated to be $140 million; he sold of majority of his Apple shares which could have propelled him into a billionaire had he not sold.

The Vanguard Group was Apple's top shareholder as of January 2024 with more than 1.27 billion shares representing 8.27% of total shares. Arthur Levinson was Apple's top individual insider shareholder as of January 2024 with more than 4.5 million shares.

Arthur Levinson is Apple's largest individual shareholder, owning 4.43 million shares as of February 2024. His stake accounts for only 0.028% of Apple's total outstanding stock. Levinson chairs Apple's board and is also the co-founder and CEO of Calico, an Alphabet Inc.

In its first-quarter earnings report released Saturday, Berkshire Hathaway reported that its Apple bet was worth $135.4 billion, implying around 790 million shares.

He sold much of his Apple stock upon his departure from the company. But over three decades later, he is still on the payroll at Apple, reportedly out of loyalty to the company. Wozniak's paycheck nets out to about $50 per week, he told Guy Kawasaki in a podcast interview released in February 2020.

Who ran Apple before Steve Jobs? ›

Prior to becoming Apple's first CEO, Michael 'Scotty' Scott was the Director of Manufacturing at National Semiconductor. Scott was persuaded by Mike Markkula (read about him below) to take the CEO position at Apple as Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were both seen to be inexperienced at the time.

By early 1985, Woz left the company for good and sold most of his stock, stating that the company had “been going in the wrong direction for the last five years.”

Apple Inc. is the company behind the iPhone. It was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne and is headquartered in Cupertino, California. Apple is publicly traded, so it is owned by its shareholders. The iPhone company is Apple Inc., and its ownership is distributed among its shareholders.

Gates bought approximately 52,815 shares of Apple Inc.

Ronald Wayne co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs in 1976 but sold his 10% stake in the company for a mere $800. On 1 April 1976, Wayne partnered with Wozniak and Jobs and provided administrative oversight and documentation for the new venture.

Steve Jobs' health wouldn't allow him to continue as CEO. August 24, 2011: With his health worsening, a cancer-stricken Steve Jobs steps down from his role leading Apple. Tim Cook assumes the role of Apple's seventh CEO.

When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, the company was in dire straits. He became CEO again and turned Apple around via new products and a Microsoft investment. During Jobs' tenure, Apple launched the iMac, iBook, iPod, Mac OS X, iPhone, iPad, and more.

Daniel Kottke (/ˈkɒtki/) is an American businessman known for having been a college friend of Steve Jobs and one of the first employees of Apple Inc. He met Jobs at Reed College in 1972, and they trekked together through India for spiritual enlightenment and to the All One Farm.

Apple fired Steve Jobs in 1985 because of a clash with the CEO. Jobs clashed with Sculley after two new products — the Lisa and the Macintosh — failed to live up to sales expectations.