Everyone knows Jobs and Wozniak but the third Apple founder sold his stake in 1976 and walked away from $400,000,000,000

If we asked you to name who founded Apple, you’d probably immediately tell us, ‘Steve Jobs’, and then think for a bit and dredge up the name ‘Steve Wozniak’, but there was also a third founder who you might never have heard of: Ronald Wayne.

Wayne, alongside the two Steves, founded the Apple Computer Company 50 years ago this week. 

The company had been created to market Wozniak’s Apple I personal computer. 

But less than two weeks after Apple was launched, Wayne decided to sell his 10 percent shares in the company for just $800, which turned out to be a pretty catastrophic financial decision. 

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He founded Apple alongside Jobs and Wozniak, but left just days later

Apple needs no introduction, having been responsible for a slew of groundbreaking products and becoming the first US company to be valued at over $1 trillion. 

Today, the tech giant is estimated to be worth more than $4 trillion, and doesn’t rest on its laurels when it comes to releasing new products, following the launch of the iPhone 17 with its most affordable MacBook ever. 

But of course, even multi-trillion-dollar companies have to start somewhere, and Apple started with Jobs, Wozniak, and Wayne. 

Jobs and Wozniak had already been quietly working away on plans to produce and market the Apple I when they met Wayne. 

The company was founded on April Fools Day, and originally operated from Jobs’ bedroom at his parents’ house. 

Wayne had been dubbed the ‘adult in the room’ at the burgeoning tech company, as at 41, he was a fair bit older than Jobs and Wozniak, who were 21 and 26, respectively. 

Wayne helped to draft the initial partnership agreement that the three men signed, and is even credited with creating the first versions of the iconic Apple logo. 

He also wrote the instruction manual for the Apple I company. 

Wayne was given a 10 percent stake in Apple, and had he sat tight, he’d have been set up for life. 

But on April 12, just 12 days after the company was founded, he sold the share back to the two Steves for $800 (equivalent to around $4,500 today). 

He was later given an additional $1,500 to forfeit any claim on the company.

He says he has one regret, but it’s probably not the one you’re thinking of

These days, that 10 percent stake could be worth as much as $400 billion, given Apple’s most recent $4 trillion valuation. 

Despite losing billions of dollars in cash, Wayne has remained remarkably laid-back about the whole thing. 

He has consistently claimed that he doesn’t regret the move because it was the ‘best decision at the time’ and that after he had made up his mind, he just had to ‘live with it’. 

However, he does admit one regret about the whole situation: selling his original signed contract for just $500. 

And it’s not just for nostalgic reasons. 

That very same contract was sold at auction for $2 million earlier this year. 

Meaning, Wayne, once again, missed out on a fortune.

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