September 16, 1985 and 1997: Twice on this day, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs makes significant moves with regard to his career at the company. In 1985, he leaves Apple after a failed boardroom coup. Then, a little more than a decade later, he officially returns to Apple as its new interim CEO.
In terms of the emotions associated with those historic occasions, it’s hard to think of two more polarizing days in Jobs’ life.
Steve Jobs leaves, and then returns to, Apple
Few corporate comeback stories are as bizarre as Steve Jobs’ relationship with Apple. On September 16, 1985, he walked away from Apple after losing a bitter power struggle. Then, exactly 12 years later, Jobs returned through the back door when Apple bought his struggling computer company, NeXT Inc.
Suddenly, Jobs was back in charge after an incredibly strange detour. And he brought NeXT’s software — and a very different vision of Apple’s future — when he came back to Cupertino. What originally looked like one of Silicon Valley’s biggest failures ultimately became the greatest comeback in tech history.
Why Steve Jobs left Apple in 1985
The story behind Jobs’ 1985 departure is well-known. Apple CEO John Sculley, who Jobs himself had recruited from PepsiCo a few years earlier, forced the Apple co-founder out of his role as general manager of the Macintosh division.
That led to a boardroom battle between Jobs and Sculley in May 1985. After Jobs lost, he decided to leave Apple, feeling forced out of the company he started.
After weeks of rumors that Jobs would quit and set up his own rival company, prompted by a flurry of sales of his AAPL stock holdings totaling $21.43 million, he officially departed on September 16, 1985. He took several Apple employees with him to start NeXT Inc., his follow-up computer company.
NeXT doesn’t really pan out, but Pixar does
NeXT never achieved the success Jobs hoped for. And in some ways, the company showcased the worst aspects of his perfectionist, “feature creep” tendencies. However, NeXT occupied an immensely important period in Jobs’ life, letting him hone his abilities as a CEO.
Also during this period, he became a billionaire, thanks to a canny investment in Pixar Animation Studios. Jobs won big by buying into the struggling George Lucas startup (yes, that George Lucas), which had yet to release its first feature-length film.
Steve Jobs returns to Apple in 1997
The $400 million sale of NeXT to Apple in December 1996 brought Jobs back into Cupertino’s fold. At the time, the company was run by Gil Amelio, a CEO who oversaw Apple’s worst-ever financial quarter. When Amelio departed, Jobs offered to help Apple locate new leadership. He stepped into the role of CEO until someone suitable could be found.
Meanwhile, the UNIX-based operating system Jobs developed at NeXT laid the groundwork for OS X, which Apple continues to build upon with its latest versions of macOS.
On September 16, 1997, Apple officially announced Jobs as its interim CEO. This quickly became shortened to iCEO, which made Jobs’ role the first “i” release, predating even the iMac.
Do you remember Steve Jobs’ return to (or departure from) Apple? Leave your comments below.
