Steve Jobs is already richer than most of us can ever dream. He’s worth more than 8 billion dollars according to the most recent estimates.
But he could be richer. A lot richer. In fact, a single mistake once cost Steve more than twenty nine billion dollars.
Back in the early days of Apple, Steve Jobs invested $1,500 to get started. All well and good, but when Apple went public back in late 1980, that $1,500 translated to 7.5 million shares.
If you multiply those 7.5 million shares by Apple’s $400 share price today, Steve Jobs would have $31.6 billion worth of Apple stock.
That’s a pretty penny, but here’s the thing: when Steve Jobs was fired as CEO back in 1985, Jobs petulantly sold one million, four hundred and ninety-nine thousand and ninety-nine shares of his stock. He only kept one share so he could continue to get his annual report.
When Jobs came back in 1997, he was award additional shares, and that stock is worth about $2.2 billion today.
Of course, Jobs could never have known he would have been asked back… and without Jobs at the helm, Apple quickly sank into mediocrity.
Even so… d’oh!
[via iClarified]
