Steve Jobs has laid plans for his vast $6.5 billion fortune, Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt has hinted.
Jobs had plans for a “third act,” Schmidt told the New York Times, and hinted that he may yet have another huge impact through the fortune he leaves behind.
“This is a man whose impact is equal to any global leader,” he said. “He very much wanted to live and have a third act” beyond Apple’s founding and its revival.
As for whether that impact may grow through the wealth he leaves behind, Mr. Schmidt said, “it is not for me to characterize” what will happen with Mr. Jobs’s fortune. “All of that will unfold,” he added. “I will say that he was a very thoughtful person, and he cared a lot about the world.”
This is makes me very excited. If I had any misgivings about Jobs’ legacy, it was his lack of public philanthropic efforts.
What do you think Jobs might have up his sleeve?
NYT: Still More to the Story, Google Executive Says
Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac.
Leander is a longtime technology reporter and the author of six acclaimed books about Apple, including two New York Times bestsellers: Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products and Inside Steve’s Brain, a biography of Steve Jobs.
He’s also written a top-selling biography of Apple CEO Tim Cook and authored Cult of Mac and Cult of iPod, which both won prestigious design awards. Most recently, he was co-author of Cult of Mac, 2nd Edition.
Leander has been reporting about Apple and technology for nearly 30 years.
Before founding Cult of Mac as an independent publication, Leander was news editor at Wired.com, where he was responsible for the day-to-day running of the Wired.com website. He headed up a team of six section editors, a dozen reporters and a large pool of freelancers. Together the team produced a daily digest of stories about the impact of science and technology, and won several awards, including several Webby Awards, 2X Knight-Batten Awards for Innovation in Journalism and the 2010 MIN (Magazine Industry Newsletter) award for best blog, among others.
Before being promoted to news editor, Leander was Wired.com’s senior reporter, primarily covering Apple. During that time, Leander published a ton of scoops, including the first in-depth report about the development of the iPod. Leander attended almost every keynote speech and special product launch presented by Steve Jobs, including the historic launches of the iPhone and iPad. He also reported from almost every Macworld Expo in the late ’90s and early ‘2000s, including, sadly, the last shows in Boston, San Francisco and Tokyo. His reporting for Wired.com formed the basis of the first Cult of Mac book, and subsequently this website.
Before joining Wired, Leander was a senior reporter at the legendary MacWeek, the storied and long-running weekly that documented Apple and its community in the 1980s and ’90s.
Leander has written for Wired magazine (including the Issue 16.04 cover story about Steve Jobs’ leadership at Apple, entitled Evil/Genius), Scientific American, The Guardian, The Observer, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.
Leander has a postgrad diploma in artificial intelligence from the University of Aberdeen, and a BSc (Hons) in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex.
He has a diploma in journalism from the UK’s National Council for the Training of Journalists.
Leander lives in San Francisco, California, and is married with four children. He’s an avid biker and has ridden in many long-distance bike events, including California’s legendary Death Ride.
You can find out more about Leander on LinkedIn and Facebook. You can follow him on X at @lkahney or Instagram.
79 responses to “Steve Jobs May Have Plans For Vast Fortune, Google’s Eric Schmidt Hints”
revolutionize the entire home electronics industry. every electronic product we use in our homes.
“One more thing…”
If my intuition is correct this is going to be something bigger than anyone has ever done.. Something philanthropic.. perhaps educational.. perhaps humanitarian
something to do with the developing world or, the environment, he did care a lot for the world around him
Classic
cure cancer.
dropping ATnT
Makes me sad all over again, hearing this.
I honestly hope he puts his money in the right places. This would seal his legacy forever.
Knowing Steve it’s going to be something a lot bigger than just leaving his fortune to charity. This is going to be huge, and I believe he is going to change the world again even after his death.
server farms used as distributed computing centres…
artificial intelligence (like Watson) applied to cancer and disease research…
third world improvement and educational projects using 21st century technology…
The possibilities are endless
This could be his final “One More Thing…”
geez Leander – but you still had to be a jerk and extract your 2 pounds of flesh – but now “your misgivings are allayed” – maybe you shouldn’t judge next time – because, maybe, just maybe, you’re in no position to
Really? You had If I had misgivings about Jobs’ legacy, because of his perceived lack of public philanthropic efforts? This is one of those things that really irks me about the media – this idea that philanthropy needs to be public, advertised and full of pomp and pageantry.
I am much more appreciative of the quite, genuine acts of philanthropy, services and social concern performed by everyday people than the media events that surround celebretards “acts” of philanthropy.
I am sure that Steve Jobs was one of those closet philanthropists that didn’t want attention for his genuine good deeds. Just look at how privately he was with his family and how the stories of his genuine love of his family has started to be told now that he has passed.
Probably donate half of his wealth to pancreatic cancer research or have Steve Jobs Prize like the nobel prize
I am sure that Jobs donated privately over the years. Public charity is only for those that need to be congratulated for how special they are. I don’t think Jobs needed that. No doubt his vast fortune is going to go for further good in many forms.
This picture is like Jesus having coffee with Judas.
For life. For medicine and patient care. His third act legacy will have a holistic impact on health care.
Exactly my thought!
Apple clouds for Cancer research!!
Here’s to Steve.
I’m sure that whatever he was thinking, it will be the ‘one more thing’ to end all ‘one more things’.
I hope his final act will serve as a reminder to the ultra wealthy that we are not here in the end to serve ourselves but act as paragons of human nature, examples to us all of what we can be. Like the great Victorian philanthropists like Richard Cadbury, Robert James Lee, Charles Dickens and John Passmore Edwards and the rest that used their influence in selfless ways to benefit others, they left the world better for their being here. It’s not about the fame, it about using your influence to make the world a better place.
Steve obviously did a lot of good in his life, hell, he helped forge a company that makes films that have a heart and a message and that touch generations equally, a computer company that gave people a positive relationship with technology, a clearer route through the Digital changeover, highlighted the beauty within industrial design, turned the mobile phone on it’s head, introduced us to touch in a meaningful way, always let us take a peak at the future he could already see a mile off and wrapped this all up with some of the finest, most insightful and inspiring words about life, technology, business and culture that any of us could wish to hear. His living legacy is, in the truest sense of the word, awesome. So as to his final act, who knows; as always, it’s all about keeping the audience watching, getting the interest up maximising exposure to ensure the message is heard around the world. I can’t wait.
We’re better off for him being here but we’re all sure gonna miss him.
To Steve, the light you have left behind will constantly glow and lead us to the future you have envisioned. Nothing else in the world manages to touch people’s lives in the most intimate ways the way apple products do. No wonder, despite their limitations, shortcomings, and even flaws, they always find a place in the hearts of their owners. To think that a man can understand people as much as much as jobs did, is in itself, nothing short of magic…the same magic that delights you the moment you finger touches the iconic devices he created.
The world is truly indebted to you and i am proud to have become part of this generation where the innovations you have crafted continue to make our lives better.
A million thanks to you, Steve.
Written with my iPad 2
Just saw some terribly sad photos of Steve on the Daily Mail website of all places, which illustrate how truly ill he had become in his last days. Puts it all into perspective.
You’re an arrogant douche, do you know that? True philanthropy doesn’t need the media circus of some self-righteous Hollywood twits. It doesn’t need $1,000 chicken dinners to see an over-sized cardboard check presented to some foundation that barely uses the money to further its stated goals.
“If I had any misgivings about Jobs’ legacy, it was his lack of public philanthropic efforts.”
I’m so glad rumor-mongering from Eric Schmidt of all people makes you feel so much better about something that should be a private matter to start with and not a celebrity media event to show the world how “caring” and “concerned” you are. Screw you!
The man dies, but the legend and Vision lives on!
The man dies, but the legend and Vision lives on!
His contribution to society was the great company he built. Think of all the jobs he has provided from the suppliers all the way to the retail stores. He has allowed sites like this to profit from Apple indirectly, all of the iOS and Mac devs that have built businesses around Apple. What he does with his fortune was his business, not ours. I am sure he first took care of his family, then I am sure he laid a very methodical plan for the money. As we have seen, money was not important to him, it was Apple, its employees and customers that were important. His philanthropy was and is this great company that we all admire and respect.
Couldn’t have said that better myself.
Wow…WELL SAID!! it’s fine and dandy if you want to be like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet…if you need that for your little ego boost…fine. Steve didn’t need or want that publicity. I have much more respect for Steve than anyone who needs to be on the 24/7 news networks telling everyone how great they are!!
I saw your pompous complaints about Jobs on TWIT the night he died. You’ve got a lot of nerve beating this drum over the years. Shame. Turns out you didn’t know what you were talking about, eh? By the way, just my cursory surfing turned up 2 cases of people thanking him for contributions over the year. Where’s your public list of charity giving??
“If I had any misgivings about Jobs’ legacy, it was his lack of public philanthropic efforts.”
Why the hell should Jobs have been “public” about his philanthropy? Just so that you as a member of the press could write about it? Given what we know of Jobs and his incredible private nature, why is it a surprise that he would do charitable work privately and out of the limelight?
You’ve made several such comments in the past Leander, often more uncharitably…
…Shame on you.
Well, here’s a 3rd example I just tripped over:
“But he is rumoured to have given $150million to the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California in San Francisco, reported the New York Times.”
… from the Daily Mail
But I guess it doesn’t count for you Leander unless it’s public, eh? I guess because it’s not about the act but really about your personal itch to keep some sort of scorecard.
Jerk.
Aren’t you the guys that posted that the TMZ picture of his suffering.
Shame.
So you don’t have the slightest idea if he gave money to charity, but you’re pissed because he didn’t do it publicly? Wow, you truly are an asshole Leander.
Leander has shown his asshole side for a while. Disrespecting Steve’s right to privacy left and right before he was dead. Continuing it now and acting like the public has a right to dig because Steve is dead so what does he care, forgetting the man had a family and they might not want tabloid trashy articles about their husband/father being tossed around
If Leander had any real respect for Steve he would have noted that Steve was a studier of Buddhism and one of the tenets is charity without asking for or demanding praise. Steve probably did do many things, he just didn’t talk about them because it wasn’t about getting him press or praise.
And we have no more right to what that was than we do to what happened the day he died etc
The man dies but the hit baiting and gossip mongering lives on
Puts into perspective the utter lack of respect the Daily Mail ever had for him and his family. THe only reason for such photos is a sick game of hit baiting. Tacky and nasty
I suspect that the bulk of the money will go to some kind of scholarship or perhaps an endowment to help under budgeted schools and yes perhaps hospitals and other non profits to get tech. Steve was always big on education. And there’s tons of ways that they can use computers, iPads etc. In particular some schools are finding ways to bring back some of their art programs so that kids can have a creative outlet or at the least they can take Art and Music history classes and get some cultural education
And hospitals are seeing that things like iPads can increase education of patients by letting them watch videos of treatments, PT exercises etc. Chemo etc patients can have something to do while they are stuck in bed during and after treatments. Nurses can be reminded of medication times. Plus there are apps that help to calculate the right dosages for body weights and warn of interactions. Reduction in errors due to unreadable handwriting. Or info not being put into patient records right away because they can type it straight in.
Ironic thing. We may never know. Because he will likely have a condition that his name isn’t attached to it. Or at least not the bulk of it.
He should buy every child in public school an iPad.
Helps Apple. Helps public education.
couldn’t agree more – TMZ were the perps, DM (having one foot in the gutter) obviously bought it off them and published. I’ve got to say, I’d rather have not seen it but there’s many people in this world that don’t know when to draw a line and always think everything is fair game if they can grind a dime from it.