Business life

Business life

Wealth

Jobs earned only $1 a year as CEO of Apple,[71] but held 5.426 million Apple shares, as well as 138 million shares in Disney (which he received in exchange for Disney's acquisition of Pixar).[72] Jobs quipped that the $1 per annum he was paid by Apple was based on attending one meeting for 50 cents while the other 50 cents was based on his performance.[73] Forbes estimated his net wealth at $8.3 billion in 2010, making him the 42nd wealthiest American.[74]

Stock options backdating issue

Two men in their fifties shown full length sitting in red leather chairs smiling at each other
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates at the fifth D: All Things Digital conference (D5) in 2007
 
In 2001, Jobs was granted stock options in the amount of 7.5 million shares of Apple with an exercise price of $18.30. It was alleged that the options had been backdated, and that the exercise price should have been $21.10. It was further alleged that Jobs had thereby incurred taxable income of $20,000,000 that he did not report, and that Apple overstated its earnings by that same amount. As a result, Jobs potentially faced a number of criminal charges and civil penalties. The case was the subject of active criminal and civil government investigations,[75] though an independent internal Apple investigation completed on December 29, 2006, found that Jobs was unaware of these issues and that the options granted to him were returned without being exercised in 2003.[76]
On July 1, 2008, a $7-billion class action suit was filed against several members of the Apple Board of Directors for revenue lost due to the alleged securities fraud.[77][78]

Management style

Jobs was a demanding perfectionist[79][80] who always aspired to position his businesses and their products at the forefront of the information technology industry by foreseeing and setting trends, at least in innovation and style.
He summed up that self-concept at the end of his keynote speech at the Macworld Conference and Expo in January 2007, by quoting ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky:
There's an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love. 'I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.' And we've always tried to do that at Apple. Since the very very beginning. And we always will.[81]
Much was made of Jobs's aggressive and demanding personality. Fortune wrote that he was "considered one of Silicon Valley's leading egomaniacs".[82] Commentaries on his temperamental style can be found in Michael Moritz's The Little Kingdom, The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, by Alan Deutschman; and iCon: Steve Jobs, by Jeffrey S. Young & William L. Simon. In 1993, Jobs made Fortune's list of America's Toughest Bosses in regard to his leadership of NeXT.
NeXT Cofounder Dan'l Lewin was quoted in Fortune as saying of that period, "The highs were unbelievable ... But the lows were unimaginable", to which Jobs's office replied that his personality had changed since then.[83]
In 2005, Jobs banned all books published by John Wiley & Sons from Apple Stores in response to their publishing an unauthorized biography, iCon: Steve Jobs.[84] In its 2010 annual earnings report, Wiley said it had "closed a deal ... to make its titles available for the iPad."[85] Jef Raskin, a former colleague, once said that Jobs "would have made an excellent king of France", alluding to Jobs's compelling and larger-than-life persona.[86] Floyd Norman said that at Pixar, Jobs was a "mature, mellow individual" and never interfered with the creative process of the filmmakers.[87]
Jobs had a public war of words with Dell Computer CEO Michael Dell, starting[when?] when Jobs first criticized Dell for making "un-innovative beige boxes".[88] On October 6, 1997, in a Gartner Symposium, when Michael Dell was asked what he would do if he owned then-troubled Apple Computer, he said "I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders."[89] In 2006, Jobs sent an email to all employees when Apple's market capitalization rose above Dell's. The email read:
Team, it turned out that Michael Dell wasn't perfect at predicting the future. Based on today's stock market close, Apple is worth more than Dell. Stocks go up and down, and things may be different tomorrow, but I thought it was worth a moment of reflection today. Steve.[90]
Jobs was also a board member at Gap Inc. from 1999 to 2002.[91]

Inventions and designs

His design sense was greatly influenced by the Buddhism which he experienced in India while on a seven-month spiritual journey.[92] His sense of intuition was also influenced by the spiritual people with whom he studied.[92]
As of October 9, 2011, Jobs is listed as either primary inventor or co-inventor in 342 United States patents or patent applications related to a range of technologies from actual computer and portable devices to user interfaces (including touch-based), speakers, keyboards, power adapters, staircases, clasps, sleeves, lanyards and packages. Most of these are design patents (specific product designs) as opposed to utility patents (inventions).[93][94] He has 43 issued US patents on inventions.[95] The patent on the Mac OS X Dock user interface with "magnification" feature was issued the day before he died.[96]

Philanthropy

Arik Hesseldahl of BusinessWeek magazine stated that "Jobs isn't widely known for his association with philanthropic causes", compared to Bill Gates's efforts.[97] Jobs said (in 1985) that he does charitable acts privately.[98] After resuming control of Apple in 1997, Jobs eliminated all corporate philanthropy programs initially.[99] Later, under Jobs, Apple signed to participate in Product Red program, producing red versions of devices to give profits from sales to charity. Apple has gone on to become the single largest contributor to the charity since its initial involvement with it. The chief of the Product Red project, singer Bono cited Jobs saying there was "nothing better than the chance to save lives," when he initially approached Apple with the invitation to participate in the program.[100]

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