Ronald Wayne

Ronald Wayne (born May 17, 1934) is an American retired electronics industry worker. He co-founded Apple Computer, Inc. (now Apple Inc.) with Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak on April 1, 1976, providing key administrative oversight for the new venture. He soon, however, sold his share of the new company back to Jobs and Wozniak for $800 US dollars, and later accepted $1,500 to forfeit any claims against Apple (in total, equivalent to $9,498 in 2019). As of September 2012, if Wayne had kept his 10% stake in Apple Inc., it would have been worth over $95 billion, making him one of the richest people in the world.

Early life and education[edit | edit source]

Wayne was born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. He trained as a technical draftsman at the School of Industrial Art in New York City. He moved to California in the 1950s.

Career[edit | edit source]

Before co-founding Apple Inc., Wayne worked at Atari with Steve Jobs. He was the venture's "adult supervision" because Jobs and Wozniak were 21 and 25 years old, respectively. Wayne's business experience began with slot machines. He said that he soon realized that "there was no future in slot machines", because they were "being rapidly replaced with new technology." He decided to join Jobs and Wozniak when they founded Apple Computer on April 1, 1976.

Wayne drew the first Apple logo, wrote the three men's original partnership agreement, and wrote the Apple I manual. Wayne received a 10% stake in Apple but relinquished his equity for $800 US dollars less than two weeks later, on April 12, 1976.

Later life[edit | edit source]

After leaving Apple, Wayne resisted any offers to return to the company. As of 2010, he lived in Pahrump, Nevada, where he sold stamps and rare coins and kept his distance from the tech world.