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Back to #420 Steve Jobs In Exile, with David Senra.

Did Steve Jobs Care About the NeXT Sale Price?

David Senra, reading Geoffrey Cain, says Steve Jobs did not care about squeezing every penny out of the sale of NeXT. Two men haggled in a kitchen, the pricing talk took five minutes, and people later called it the fastest acquisition they had seen.

Allies warned the buyer that purchasing NeXT would put Jobs in charge of Apple. The buyer missed how much force Jobs had, or believed he could control it. Jobs does not know how to do anything but lead. NeXT's executives thought the buyer failed to see what 12 years away had given Jobs: better skills for building technology and better ways to get what he wanted.

At 43, Jobs returned to the company that had thrown him out. Apple was his again, and this time he was ready.

Grokipedia·Steve Jobs·NeXT

Transcript

#420 Steve Jobs In Exile ·

Founders

More from this episode

  1. What Did Paul Rand Charge for the NeXT Logo?David Senra, reading Geoffrey Cain, says Paul Rand's price for the NeXT logo was $100,000, whether or not NeXT used it.
  2. How Much Did Ross Perot Invest in NeXT?David Senra, reading Geoffrey Cain, says Ross Perot put $20 million into NeXT for a 16% stake and became the company's largest outside shareholder.
  3. Why Did NeXT's Chip Designers Quit After Their Bonuses?David Senra, reading Geoffrey Cain, says NeXT's chip engineers, Big Dave and Little Dave, took $25,000 bonuses and quit.
  4. What Did Steve Jobs Learn About Overplaying His Hand?David Senra, reading Geoffrey Cain, says Steve Jobs learned never to overplay his hand after a higher-margin IBM deal collapsed.
  5. How Did NeXT Count Unsold Computers as Sales?David Senra, reading Geoffrey Cain, says NeXT booked machines sent to distributors as sales even when no customer had bought one and no money had changed hands.
  6. What Did Steve Jobs Learn From Failing at NeXT?David Senra, reading Geoffrey Cain, says NeXT taught Steve Jobs something he never learned at Apple: how to turn failure into fuel.
  7. Who Did Steve Jobs Feel He Worked for?David Senra, reading Geoffrey Cain, says that by November 1995 Steve Jobs felt he worked for most of the people doing the brilliant work.
  8. How Did NeXT Get Steve Jobs Back Into Apple?David Senra, reading Geoffrey Cain, says NeXT got Steve Jobs back into Apple because a product manager named Garrett Rice called Apple, and Jobs then showed…

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