Apple Founded
Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne founded Apple Computer Company
April 01, 1976
Three Men and a Garage
Apple Computer Company was founded on April 1, 1976, by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne. The company was born in the garage of the Jobs family home in Los Cupertino, California. Wozniak had designed a new kind of personal computer called the Apple I, and Jobs saw its commercial potential. Wayne, an older colleague who had worked with Jobs at Atari, drew the original Apple logo and wrote the partnership agreement. However, Wayne sold his 10 percent stake just 12 days later for $800, fearing financial liability. That stake would eventually be worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
The Apple I and the Birth of the Company
The Apple I was sold as a circuit board that hobbyists assembled themselves. It retailed for $666.66, a price Wozniak chose simply because he liked repeating digits. About 200 units were produced, and the computer was sold primarily through a local electronics retailer called the Byte Shop. The success of the Apple I gave the founders enough momentum to develop the Apple II, which launched in 1977 and became one of the first highly successful mass-produced personal computers. The Apple II featured a color display, a keyboard, and an expandable design that made it popular with schools, businesses, and home users alike.
From Garage to the World's Most Valuable Company
Apple went public on December 12, 1980, creating instant millionaires among its employees and making Jobs and Wozniak extraordinarily wealthy. The company faced serious struggles in the late 1980s and 1990s after Jobs was forced out in 1985. When he returned in 1997, Apple was near bankruptcy. Jobs led a remarkable turnaround with the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad, transforming Apple into the most valuable company in the world. In August 2018, Apple became the first U.S. company to reach a market capitalization of one trillion dollars. The journey from that garage in 1976 to that milestone is one of the most remarkable stories in business history.