This article is about the person. For the biography, see Steve Jobs (book).

For
the 2013 biographical film, see Jobs (film).
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Steve Jobs
Jobs smiling and holding an iPhone
Jobs holding an iPhone 4 at Worldwide Developers Conference 2010
Born
Steven Paul Jobs
February 24, 1955
San Francisco, California, US
Died
October 5, 2011 (aged 56)
Palo Alto, California, US
Residence
Palo Alto, California, US
Alma mater
Reed College (dropped out)
Occupation
Cofounder, Chairman, and CEO,
Apple Inc.
Cofounder and CEO,
Pixar
Founder and CEO,
NeXT Inc.
Years active
19742011
Net worth
US $8.3 billion (July 2010)
Board member of
The Walt Disney Company[1]
Apple Inc.
Religion
Zen Buddhism
(previously Lutheran)[2]
Spouse(s)
Laurene Powell
(m. 19912011; his death)
Partner(s)
Chrisann Brennan (high school girlfriend and Lisa's mother)
Children
4; including Lisa Brennan-Jobs
Relatives
Mona Simpson (sister)
Signature
Steve Jobs signature.svg
Steven Paul Jobs (/dbz/; February 24, 1955 October 5, 2011)[3][4] was an American e
ntrepreneur,[5] marketer,[6] and inventor,[7] who was the cofounder, chairman, a
nd CEO of Apple Inc. Through Apple, he is widely recognized as a charismatic and
design-driven pioneer of the personal computer revolution[8][9] and for his inf
luential career in the computer and consumer electronics fields, transforming "o
ne industry after another, from computers and smartphones to music and movies."[
10] Jobs cofounded and served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he
became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, wh
en Disney acquired Pixar. Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potenti
al of Xerox PARC's mouse-driven graphical user interface, which led to the creat
ion of the Apple Lisa and, a year later, the Macintosh. He played a role in intr
oducing the LaserWriter, one of the first widely available laser printers, to th
e market.[11]
After a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs left Apple and
founded NeXT, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher
-education and business markets. In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics divi
sion of Lucasfilm, which was spun off as Pixar.[12] He was credited in Toy Story
(1995) as an executive producer and characteristically forgiving principal inve
stor of Pixar. He served as CEO and majority shareholder until Disney's purchase
of Pixar in 2006.[13] In 1996, after Apple had failed to deliver its operating
system, Copland, Gil Amelio turned to NeXT Computer, and the NeXTSTEP platform b
ecame the foundation for the Mac OS X.[14] Jobs returned to Apple as an advisor,
and took control of the company as an interim CEO. Jobs brought Apple from near
bankruptcy to profitability by 1998.[15][16][17]
As the new CEO of the company, Jobs oversaw the development of the iMac, iTunes,
iPod, iPhone, and iPad, and on the services side, the company's Apple Retail St

ores, iTunes Store and the App Store.[18] The success of

ices provided several years of stable financial returns,
become the world's most valuable publicly traded company
goration of the company is regarded by many commentators
turnarounds in business history.[20][21][22]

these products and serv

and propelled Apple to
in 2011.[19] The reinvi
as one of the greatest

In 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with a pancreas neuroendocrine tumor. Though it was
initially treated, he reported a hormone imbalance, underwent a liver transplant
in 2009, and appeared progressively thinner as his health declined.[23] On medi
cal leave for most of 2011, Jobs resigned in August that year, and was elected C
hairman of the Board. He died of respiratory arrest related to the tumor on Octo
ber 5, 2011.
Jobs received a number of honors and public recognition for his influence in the
technology and music industries. He has been referred to as "legendary", a "fut
urist" and a "visionary",[24][25][26][27] and has been described as the "Father
of the Digital Revolution,"[28] a "master of innovation,"[29][30] "the master ev
angelist of the digital age"[31] and a "design perfectionist."[32][33]

Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 Career
2.1 Early work
2.2 Apple Computer
2.3 NeXT Computer
2.4 Pixar and Disney
2.5 Return to Apple
2.6 Resignation
3 Business life
3.1 Wealth
3.2 Stock options backdating issue
3.3 Management style
3.3.1 Reality distortion field
3.4 Innovations and designs
3.4.1 The Macintosh Computer
3.4.2 The NeXT Computer
3.4.3 iMac
3.4.4 iPod
3.4.5 iPhone
3.5 Philanthropy
4 Personal life
4.1 Health issues
5 Death
5.1 Media coverage
6 Honors and public recognition
7 Portrayals and coverage in books, film, and theater
8 References
9 Further reading
10 External links
10.1 Articles
10.2 Interviews
Early life
Jobs's birth parents met at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where his Sy
rian-born biological father, Abdulfattah "John" Jandali (Arabic:
),[34][35]
undergraduate and then graduate student, and where his biological mother, Swiss
-American Joanne Carole Schieble, studied for a degree in speech language pathol
ogy. Jandali, who emigrated to the U.S. from Homs, Syria at the age of 19, was a
graduate student studying political science when he met and became involved wit
h Schieble. When Schieble became pregnant, her fundamentalist father vehemently
refused to let her marry Jandali, and Schieble ended up going to California to h

ave the baby and give it up for adoption. About six months later, Schieble's fat
her died suddenly, so she married Jandali in December 1955. Jandali swiftly fini
shed his Ph.D. and got a teaching position at the University of Wisconsin, Green
Bay. The couple moved there and then had another child, Mona Simpson, who is St
eve Jobs's full sister. Their marriage ended in 1962, and then Schieble moved wi
th her daughter to Los Angeles, and later remarried.[39][40]
Jobs was born in San Francisco, California on February 24, 1955.[41][42] He was
adopted at birth by Paul Reinhold Jobs (19221993) and Clara Jobs (ne Hagopian) (19
241986), an Armenian American.[43][44] Paul and Clara had gotten married in March
1946, ten days after they met. Clara had an ectopic pregnancy and couldn't bear
children. In 1955, nine years after their marriage, they decided to adopt a chi
ld.[45] According to Steve Jobs's commencement address at Stanford, Schieble wan
ted Jobs to be adopted only by a college graduate couple. Schieble learned that
Clara Jobs had not graduated from college and Paul Jobs had only attended high s
chool, but signed final adoption papers after they promised her that the child w
ould definitely be encouraged and supported to attend college. Later, when asked
about his "adoptive parents", Jobs replied emphatically that Paul and Clara Job
s "were my parents."[46] He stated in his authorized biography that they "were m
y parents 1,000%."[40] Walter Isaacson wrote in his authorized biography about S
teve Jobs that Steve had told him, "Paul and Clara are 100% my parents. And Joan
na and Abdulfatahare only a sperm and an egg bank. It's not rude, it is the truth
."[45]
The Jobs family moved from San Francisco to Mountain View, California when Jobs
was five years old.[41][42] The parents later adopted a daughter, Patty.[41] Pau
l worked as a mechanic and a carpenter, and taught his son rudimentary electroni
cs and how to work with his hands.[41] Paul showed Steve how to work on electron
ics in the family garage, demonstrating to his son how to take apart and rebuild
electronics such as radios and televisions. As a result, he became interested i
n and developed a hobby of technical tinkering.[47]
Clara was an accountant[46] who taught him to read before he went to school.[41]
Clara Jobs had been a payroll clerk for Varian Associates, one of the first hig
h-tech firms in what became known as Silicon Valley.[48]
Jobs's youth was riddled with frustrations over formal schooling. At Monta Loma
Elementary school in Mountain View, he frequently played pranks on others.[49] T
hough school officials recommended that he skip two grades on account of his tes
t scores, his parents elected for him to skip only one grade.[40][49]
Jobs then attended Cupertino Junior High and Homestead High School in Cupertino,
California.[42] At Homestead, Jobs became friends with Bill Fernandez, a neighb
or who shared the same interests in electronics. Fernandez introduced Jobs to hi
s neighbor, Steve Wozniak, a computer and electronics whiz kid, who was nickname
d "Woz". In 1969 Wozniak started building a little computer board with Fernandez
that they named "The Cream Soda Computer", which they showed to Jobs; he seemed
really interested.[50] Wozniak has stated that they called it the Cream Soda Co
mputer because he and Fernandez drank cream soda all the time whilst they worked
on it and that he and Jobs had gone to the same high school, although they did
not know each other there.[51]
Following high school graduation in 1972, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portl
and, Oregon. Reed was an expensive college which Paul and Clara could ill afford
. They were spending much of their life savings on their son's higher education.
[50] Jobs dropped out of college after six months and spent the next 18 months d
ropping in on creative classes, including a course on calligraphy.[52] In the co
mmencement address he gave at Stanford, Jobs said that, while he continued to au
dit classes at Reed, he slept on the floor in friends' dorm rooms, returned Coke
bottles for food money, and got weekly free meals at the local Hare Krishna tem

ple.[53] In that same speech, Jobs said: "If I had never dropped in on that sing
le calligraphy course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typeface
s or proportionally spaced fonts."[53]
Career
Early work
Homebrew Computer Club Newsletter, September 1976
In 1972, Steve Wozniak designed his own version of the classic video game Pong.
After finishing it, Wozniak gave the board to Jobs, who then took the game down
to Atari, Inc. in Los Gatos, California. Atari thought that Jobs had built it an
d gave him a job as a technician.[54][55] Atari's cofounder Nolan Bushnell later
described him as "difficult but valuable," pointing out that "he was very often
the smartest guy in the room, and he would let people know that."[56]
Jobs traveled to India in mid-1974[57] to visit Neem Karoli Baba[58] at his Kain
chi ashram with a Reed College friend (and, later, an early Apple employee), Dan
iel Kottke, in search of spiritual enlightenment. When they got to the Neem Karo
li ashram, it was almost deserted because Neem Karoli Baba had died in September
1973.[55] Then they made a long trek up a dry riverbed to an ashram of Haidakha
n Babaji. In India, they spent a lot of time on bus rides from Delhi to Uttar Pr
adesh and Himachal Pradesh.[55]
After staying for seven months, Jobs left India[59] and returned to the US ahead
of Daniel Kottke.[55] Jobs had changed his appearance; his head was shaved and
he wore traditional Indian clothing.[60][61] During this time, Jobs experimented
with psychedelics, later calling his LSD experiences "one of the two or three m
ost important things [he had] done in [his] life".[62][63] He became a serious p
ractitioner of Zen Buddhism, engaged in lengthy meditation retreats at the Tassa
jara Zen Mountain Center, the oldest St Zen monastery in the US.[64] He considered
taking up monastic residence at Eihei-ji in Japan, and maintained a lifelong ap
preciation for Zen.[65] Jobs would later say that people around him who did not
share his countercultural roots could not fully relate to his thinking.[62]
Jobs then returned to Atari, and was assigned to create a circuit board for the
arcade video game Breakout. According to Bushnell, Atari offered US$100 for each
chip that was eliminated in the machine. Jobs had little specialized knowledge
of circuit board design and made a deal with Wozniak to split the fee evenly bet
ween them if Wozniak could minimize the number of chips. Much to the amazement o
f Atari engineers, Wozniak reduced the number of chips by 50, a design so tight
that it was impossible to reproduce on an assembly line.[further explanation nee
ded] According to Wozniak, Jobs told him that Atari gave them only $700 (instead
of the offered $5,000), and that Wozniak's share was thus $350.[66] Wozniak did
not learn about the actual bonus until ten years later, but said that if Jobs h
ad told him about it and had Wozniak said he needed the money, Jobs would have g
iven it to him.[67]
Wozniak had designed a low-cost digital "blue box" to generate the necessary ton
es to manipulate the telephone network, allowing free long-distance calls. Jobs
decided that they could make money selling it. The clandestine sales of the ille
gal "blue boxes" went well, and perhaps planted the seed in Jobs's mind that ele
ctronics could be fun and profitable.[68] Jobs, in a 1994 interview, recalled th
at it took six months for him and Wozniak to figure out how to build the blue bo
xes.[69] Jobs said that if not for the blue boxes, there would have been no Appl
e. He states it showed them that they could take on large companies and beat the
m.[70][71]
Jobs began attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club with Wozniak in 1975
.[42] He greatly admired Edwin H. Land, the inventor of instant photography and
founder of Polaroid Corporation, and would explicitly model his own career after

that of Land's.[72][73]
In 1976, Jobs and Wozniak formed their own business, which they named "Apple Com
puter Company" in remembrance of a happy summer Jobs had spent picking apples. A
t first they started off selling circuit boards.[74]
Apple Computer
See also: History of Apple
Home of Paul and Clara Jobs, on Crist Drive in Los Altos, California.
Home of Paul and Clara Jobs, on Crist Drive in Los Altos, California. Steve Jobs
formed Apple Computer in its garage with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne in 1976
. Wayne stayed only a short time, leaving Jobs and Wozniak as the primary cofoun
ders of the company.
In 1976, Wozniak single-handedly invented the Apple I computer. After Wozniak sh
owed it to Jobs, who suggested that they sell it, they and Ronald Wayne formed A
pple Computer in the garage of Jobs's parents in order to sell it.[75] Wayne sta
yed only a short time, leaving Jobs and Wozniak as the active primary cofounders
of the company.[76] They received funding from a then-semi-retired Intel produc
t marketing manager and engineer Mike Markkula.[77] Scott McNealy, one of the co
founders of Sun Microsystems, said that Jobs broke a "glass age ceiling" in Sili
con Valley because he'd created a very successful company at a young age.[71]
In 1978, Apple recruited Mike Scott from National Semiconductor to serve as CEO
for what turned out to be several turbulent years. In 1983, Jobs lured John Scul
ley away from Pepsi-Cola to serve as Apple's CEO, asking, "Do you want to spend
the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change t
he world?"[78]
In the early 1980s, Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potential of
Xerox PARC's mouse-driven graphical user interface, which led to the creation of
the Apple Lisa. A year later, Apple completed the Macintosh.[79][80]
The following year, Apple aired a Super Bowl television commercial titled "1984.
" At Apple's annual shareholders meeting on January 24, 1984, an emotional Jobs
introduced the Macintosh to a wildly enthusiastic audience; Andy Hertzfeld descr
ibed the scene as "pandemonium."[81]
Apple logo introduced May 17, 1976, created by Rob Janoff with the rainbow schem
e used until August 26, 1999.
While Jobs was a persuasive and charismatic director for Apple, some of his empl
oyees from that time described him as an erratic and temperamental manager. Disa
ppointing sales caused a deterioration in Jobs's working relationship with Scull
ey, which devolved into a power struggle between the two.[82] Jobs kept meetings
running past midnight, sent out lengthy faxes, then called new meetings at 7:00
am.[83]
In 1985, during an April 10 & 11 board meeting, Apple's board of directors gave
Sculley the authority to remove Jobs from all roles, except chairman, to reassig
n him to an undetermined position. John delayed a reassignment. But when Sculley
learned that Jobswho believed Sculley to be "bad for Apple" and the wrong person
to lead the companyhad been attempting to organize a boardroom coup, called a bo
ard meeting to resolve the matter. On May 24, Apple's board of directors sided w
ith Sculley once again and removed Jobs from his managerial duties as head of th
e Macintosh division. Bereft of duties and exiled from the rest of the company t
o an otherwise-empty building, Jobs stopped coming to work and later resigned as
chairman.[82][84][85] After unsuccessfully applying to fly on the Space Shuttle
as a civilian astronaut, and briefly considering starting a computer company in
the Soviet Union,[86] he resigned from Apple five months later.[82]

In a speech Jobs gave at Stanford University in 2005, he said being fired from A
pple was the best thing that could have happened to him: "The heaviness of being
successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure a
bout everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my lif
e." And he added, "I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't
been fired from Apple. It was awful-tasting medicine, but I guess the patient ne
eded it."[53][87][88]
NeXT Computer
See also: NeXT
A NeXTstation with the original keyboard, mouse and the NeXT MegaPixel monitor
Jobs founded NeXT Inc. in 1985 after his resignation[83][89] with $7 million. A
year later he was running out of money, and with no product on the horizon, he s
ought venture capital. Eventually, Jobs attracted the attention of billionaire R
oss Perot who invested heavily in the company.[90] The NeXT computer was shown t
o the world at what was considered Jobs's come back event,[91] a lavish (invitat
ion only) gala launch event [92] and was described as a multimedia extravaganza.
[93] It was held at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, Californi
a on Wednesday October 12, 1988.
NeXT workstations were first released in 1990, priced at US$9,999. Like the Appl
e Lisa, the NeXT workstation was technologically advanced, but was largely dismi
ssed as cost-prohibitive by the educational sector for which it was designed.[94
] The NeXT workstation was known for its technical strengths, chief among them i
ts object-oriented software development system. Jobs marketed NeXT products to t
he financial, scientific, and academic community, highlighting its innovative, e
xperimental new technologies, such as the Mach kernel, the digital signal proces
sor chip, and the built-in Ethernet port. Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wid
e Web on a NeXT computer at CERN.[95]
The revised, second generation NeXTcube was released in 1990, also. Jobs touted
it as the first "interpersonal" computer that would replace the personal compute
r. With its innovative NeXTMail multimedia email system, NeXTcube could share vo
ice, image, graphics, and video in email for the first time. "Interpersonal comp
uting is going to revolutionize human communications and groupwork", Jobs told r
eporters.[96] Jobs ran NeXT with an obsession for aesthetic perfection, as evide
nced by the development of and attention to NeXTcube's magnesium case.[97] This
put considerable strain on NeXT's hardware division, and in 1993, after having s
old only 50,000 machines, NeXT transitioned fully to software development with t
he release of NeXTSTEP/Intel.[98] The company reported its first profit of $1.03
million in 1994.[90] In 1996, NeXT Software, Inc. released WebObjects, a framew
ork for Web application development. After NeXT was acquired by Apple Inc. in 19
97, WebObjects was used to build and run the Apple Store,[98] MobileMe services,
and the iTunes Store.
Pixar and Disney
In 1986, Jobs bought The Graphics Group (later renamed Pixar) from Lucasfilm's c
omputer graphics division for the price of $10 million, $5 million of which was
given to the company as capital.[99]
The first film produced by the partnership, Toy Story (1995), with Jobs credited
as executive producer,[100] brought fame and critical acclaim to the studio whe
n it was released. Over the next 15 years, under Pixar's creative chief John Las
seter, the company produced box-office hits A Bug's Life (1998); Toy Story 2 (19
99); Monsters, Inc. (2001); Finding Nemo (2003); The Incredibles (2004); Cars (2
006); Ratatouille (2007); WALL-E (2008); Up (2009); and Toy Story 3 (2010). Find
ing Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up and Toy Story 3 each received
the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, an award introduced in 2001.[101]

In 2003 and 2004, as Pixar's contract with Disney was running out, Jobs and Disn
ey chief executive Michael Eisner tried but failed to negotiate a new partnershi
p,[102] and in early 2004, Jobs announced that Pixar would seek a new partner to
distribute its films after its contract with Disney expired.
In October 2005, Bob Iger replaced Eisner at Disney, and Iger quickly worked to
mend relations with Jobs and Pixar. On January 24, 2006, Jobs and Iger announced
that Disney had agreed to purchase Pixar in an all-stock transaction worth $7.4
billion. When the deal closed, Jobs became The Walt Disney Company's largest si
ngle shareholder with approximately seven percent of the company's stock.[103] J
obs's holdings in Disney far exceeded those of Eisner, who holds 1.7 percent, an
d of Disney family member Roy E. Disney, who until his 2009 death held about one
percent of the company's stock and whose criticisms of Eisner especially that h
e soured Disney's relationship with Pixar accelerated Eisner's ousting. Upon com
pletion of the merger, Jobs received 7% of Disney shares, and joined the Board o
f Directors as the largest individual shareholder.[103][104][105] Upon Jobs's de
ath his shares in Disney were transferred to the Steven P. Jobs Trust led by Lau
rene Jobs.[106]
Return to Apple
See also: "20002005: Return to profitability" in Apple, Inc.
Logo for the Think Different campaign designed by TBWA\Chiat\Day and initiated b
y Jobs after his return to Apple Computer in 1997.
In 1996, Apple announced that it would buy NeXT for $427 million. The deal was f
inalized in February 1997,[107] bringing Jobs back to the company he had cofound
ed. Jobs became de facto chief after then-CEO Gil Amelio was ousted in July 1997
. He was formally named interim chief executive in September.[108] In March 1998
, to concentrate Apple's efforts on returning to profitability, Jobs terminated
a number of projects, such as Newton, Cyberdog, and OpenDoc. In the coming month
s, many employees developed a fear of encountering Jobs while riding in the elev
ator, "afraid that they might not have a job when the doors opened. The reality
was that Jobs's summary executions were rare, but a handful of victims was enoug
h to terrorize a whole company."[109] Jobs changed the licensing program for Mac
intosh clones, making it too costly for the manufacturers to continue making mac
hines.
With the purchase of NeXT, much of the company's technology found its way into A
pple products, most notably NeXTSTEP, which evolved into Mac OS X. Under Jobs's
guidance, the company increased sales significantly with the introduction of the
iMac and other new products; since then, appealing designs and powerful brandin
g have worked well for Apple. At the 2000 Macworld Expo, Jobs officially dropped
the "interim" modifier from his title at Apple and became permanent CEO.[110] J
obs quipped at the time that he would be using the title "iCEO".[111]
Full-length portrait of man about fifty wearing jeans and a black turtleneck shi
rt, standing in front of a dark curtain with a white Apple logo
Jobs on stage at Macworld Conference & Expo, San Francisco, January 11, 2005
The company subsequently branched out, introducing and improving upon other digi
tal appliances. With the introduction of the iPod portable music player, iTunes
digital music software, and the iTunes Store, the company made forays into consu
mer electronics and music distribution. On June 29, 2007, Apple entered the cell
ular phone business with the introduction of the iPhone, a multi-touch display c
ell phone, which also included the features of an iPod and, with its own mobile
browser, revolutionized the mobile browsing scene. While nurturing innovation, J
obs also reminded his employees that "real artists ship".[112]
Jobs was both admired and criticized for his consummate skill at persuasion and
salesmanship, which has been dubbed the "reality distortion field" and was parti
cularly evident during his keynote speeches (colloquially known as "Stevenotes")

at Macworld Expos and at Apple Worldwide Developers Conferences.[113]

In 2005, Jobs responded to criticism of Apple's poor recycling programs for e-wa
ste in the US by lashing out at environmental and other advocates at Apple's Ann
ual Meeting in Cupertino in April. A few weeks later, Apple announced it would t
ake back iPods for free at its retail stores. The Computer TakeBack Campaign res
ponded by flying a banner from a plane over the Stanford University graduation a
t which Jobs was the commencement speaker.[53] The banner read "Steve, don't be
a mini-playerrecycle all e-waste".
In 2006, he further expanded Apple's recycling programs to any US customer who b
uys a new Mac. This program includes shipping and "environmentally friendly disp
osal" of their old systems.[114]
Resignation
In August 2011, Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple, but remained with the company as
chairman of its board.[115][116] Hours after the announcement, Apple Inc. (AAPL)
shares dropped five percent in after-hours trading.[117] This relatively small
drop, when considering the importance of Jobs to Apple, was associated with the
fact that his health had been in the news for several years, and he had been on
medical leave since January 2011.[118] It was believed, according to Forbes, tha
t the impact would be felt in a negative way beyond Apple, including at The Walt
Disney Company where Jobs served as director.[119] In after-hours trading on th
e day of the announcement, Walt Disney Co. (DIS) shares dropped 1.5 percent.[120
]
Business life
Remember, the sixties happened in the early seventies, and that's when I came of
age; and to me, the spark of that was that there was something beyond what you
see every day. It's the same thing that causes people to be poets instead of ban
kers. And I think that's a wonderful thing. I think that same spirit can be put
in to products, and those products can be manufactured, and given to people, and
they can sense that spirit.
Steve Jobs, Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview
Wealth
Although Jobs earned only $1 a year as CEO of Apple,[121] Jobs held 5.426 millio
n Apple shares worth $2.1 billion, as well as 138 million shares in Disney (whic
h he received in exchange for Disney's acquisition of Pixar) worth $4.4 billion.
[122][123] Jobs quipped that the $1 per annum he was paid by Apple was based on
attending one meeting for 50 cents while the other 50 cents was based on his per
formance.[124] Forbes estimated his net wealth at $8.3 billion in 2010, making h
im the 42nd-wealthiest American.[125]
Stock options backdating issue
Two men in their fifties shown full length sitting in red leather chairs smiling
at each other
Steve Jobs and Bill Gates at the fifth D: All Things Digital conference (D5) in
May 2007
In 2001, Jobs was granted stock options in the amount of 7.5 million shares of A
pple with an exercise price of $18.30. It was alleged that the options had been
backdated, and that the exercise price should have been $21.10. It was further a
lleged that Jobs had thereby incurred taxable income of $20,000,000 that he did
not report, and that Apple overstated its earnings by that same amount. As a res
ult, Jobs potentially faced a number of criminal charges and civil penalties. Th
e case was the subject of active criminal and civil government investigations,[1
26] though an independent internal Apple investigation completed on December 29,
2006 found that Jobs was unaware of these issues and that the options granted t
o him were returned without being exercised in 2003.[127]

On July 1, 2008, a US$7 billion class action suit was filed against several memb
ers of the Apple Board of Directors for revenue lost due to the alleged securiti
es fraud.[128][129]
Management style
Jobs was perceived as a demanding perfectionist,[130][131] who always aspired to
position his businesses and their products at the forefront of the information
technology industry, by foreseeing and setting innovation and style trends. He s
ummed up this self-concept at the end of his keynote speech at the Macworld Conf
erence and Expo in January 2007, by quoting ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky
There's an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love. 'I skate to where the puck is go
ing to be, not where it has been.' And we've always tried to do that at Apple. S
ince the very very beginning. And we always will.[132]
Steve Jobs announcing the transition to Intel processors in June 2005.
Jobs's aggressive and demanding personality has been widely publicized. Fortune
stated that he was "considered one of Silicon Valley's leading egomaniacs".[133]
In 1993, Jobs made Fortune ' s list of America's Toughest Bosses in regard to his le
adership at NeXT. NeXT cofounder, Dan'l Lewin, was quoted in Fortune: "The highs
were unbelievable ... But the lows were unimaginable". In response to the artic
le, Jobs's office explained that his personality had changed since then.[134] Ap
ple CEO Tim Cook noted, "More so than any person I ever met in my life, [Jobs] h
ad the ability to change his mind, much more so than anyone Ive ever met ... Mayb
e the most underappreciated thing about Steve was that he had the courage to cha
nge his mind."[135]
In 2005, Jobs banned all books published by John Wiley & Sons from Apple Stores,
as the company had published an unauthorized Jobs biography titled iCon: Steve
Jobs.[136] In its 2010 annual earnings report, Wiley said it had "closed a deal
... to make its titles available for the iPad."[137] Jef Raskin, a former collea
gue, once said that Jobs "would have made an excellent king of France", alluding
to Jobs s compelling and larger-than-life persona.[138]
Jobs had a public war of words with Dell Computer CEO Michael Dell, starting in
1987, when Jobs first criticized Dell for making "un-innovative beige boxes".[13
9] On October 6, 1997, at a Gartner Symposium, when Dell was asked what he would
do if he ran the then-troubled Apple Computer company, he said: "I d shut it do
wn and give the money back to the shareholders."[140] Then, in 2006, Jobs sent a
n email to all employees when Apple s market capitalization rose above Dell s:
Team, it turned out that Michael Dell wasn t perfect at predicting the future. B
ased on today s stock market close, Apple is worth more than Dell. Stocks go up
and down, and things may be different tomorrow, but I thought it was worth a mom
ent of reflection today. Steve.[141]
Jobs was a board member at Gap Inc. from 1999 to 2002.[142]
Apple s third cofounder Wayne explained that Job s personality was very cold. He
recounted the times Jobs was ruthless, including one occasion in which Jobs ask
ed Wayne to convince a friend to sell his company for Apple s benefit.[143]
Floyd Norman, of Pixar, described Jobs as a "mature, mellow individual" who neve
r interfered with the creative process of the filmmakers.[144] In early June 201
4, Pixar cofounder and Walt Disney President Ed Catmull revealed that Jobs once
advised him to "just explain it to them until they understand." in disagreements
. Catmull released the book Creativity Inc. in 2014, in which recounts numerous
experiences of working with Jobs. Regarding his own manner of dealing with Jobs,

Catmull writes:
In all the 26 years with Steve, Steve and I never had one of these loud verbal a
rguments and it s not my nature to do that. ... but we did disagree fairly frequ
ently about things. ... I would say something to him and he would immediately sh
oot it down because he could think faster than I could. ... I would then wait a
week ... I d call him up and I give my counter argument to what he had said and
he d immediately shoot it down. So I had to wait another week, and sometimes thi
s went on for months. But in the end one of three things happened. About a third
of the time he said, Oh, I get it, you re right. And that was the end of it.
And it was another third of the time in which [I d] say, Actually I think he is
right. The other third of the time, where we didn t reach consensus, he just l
et me do it my way, never said anything more about it.[145]
Reality distortion field
Main article: Reality distortion field
Apple s Bud Tribble coined the term "reality distortion field" (RDF) in 1981, to
describe Jobs s charisma and its effects on the developers working on the Macin
tosh project.[146] Tribble claimed that the term came from Star Trek[146] and th
e term has since been used to refer to perceptions of Jobs s keynote speeches.[1
47]
Andy Hertzfeld described the RDF as Jobs s ability to convince himself and other
s to believe almost anything, whereby he used a mix of charm, charisma, bravado,
hyperbole, marketing, appeasement, and persistence. Although the subject of cri
ticism, Jobs s so-called RDF was also recognized as a concept that created a sen
se that the impossible was possible. Then, by motivating the people around him t
o create innovative products, Jobs was in turn able to market them creatively to
reach a wide audience.[148] Once the term became widely known, it was often use
d in the technology press to describe Jobs s sway over the publicparticularly reg
arding new product announcements.[149][150]
Innovations and designs
Jobs s design aesthetic was influenced by the modernist architectural style of J
oseph Eichler, by the industrial designs of Braun s Dieter Rams,[40] and by Budd
hism. In India, he experienced Buddhism while on his seven-month spiritual journ
ey,[151] and his sense of intuition was influenced by the spiritual people with
whom he studied.[151]
According to Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak "Steve didn t ever code. He wasn t an
engineer and he didn t do any original design..."[152][153] Daniel Kottke, one
of Apple s earliest employees and a college friend of Jobs s, stated that "Betwe
en Woz and Jobs, Woz was the innovator, the inventor. Steve Jobs was the marketi
ng person."[154]
He is listed as either primary inventor or co-inventor in 346 United States pate
nts or patent applications related to a range of technologies from actual comput
er and portable devices to user interfaces (including touch-based), speakers, ke
yboards, power adapters, staircases, clasps, sleeves, lanyards and packages. Job
s s contributions to most of his patents were to "the look and feel of the produ
ct". His industrial design chief Jonathan Ive had his name along with him for 20
0 of the patents.[155] Most of these are design patents (specific product design
s; for example, Jobs listed as primary inventor in patents for both original and
lamp-style iMacs, as well as PowerBook G4 Titanium) as opposed to utility paten
ts (inventions).[7][156] He has 43 issued US patents on inventions.[7] The paten
t on the Mac OS X Dock user interface with "magnification" feature was issued th
e day before he died.[157] Although Jobs had little involvement in the engineeri
ng and technical side of the original Apple computers,[153] Jobs later used his
CEO position to directly involve himself with product design.[158]

Even while terminally ill in the hospital, Jobs sketched new devices that would
hold the iPad in a hospital bed.[159] He also despised the oxygen monitor on his
finger and suggested ways to revise the design for simplicity.[160]
In fact, since his death the former Apple CEO has won 141 patents. That s more t
han most inventors win during their lifetimes. Total number of Jobs s patents is
now over 450.[161]
The Macintosh Computer
Main article: Macintosh
The Macintosh was introduced in January 1984. The computer had no "Mac" name on
the front, but rather just the Apple logo.[162] Apple co-founder and former Appl
e engineer Steve Wozniak said that the Macintosh failed under Steve Jobs, and th
at it wasn t until Jobs left that it became a success.[163]
The NeXT Computer
Main article: NeXT Computer
After Jobs was forced out of Apple in 1985, he started a company that built work
station computers. The NeXT Computer was introduced in 1988 at a lavish launch e
vent. Tim Berners-Lee created the world s first web browser on the NeXT Computer
. The NeXT Computer was the basis for today s Macintosh OS X and iPhone operatin
g system (iOS).[164][165]
iMac
Main article: iMac
Apple iMac was introduced in 1998 and its innovative design was directly the res
ult of Jobs s return to Apple. Apple boasted "the back of our computer looks bet
ter than the front of anyone else s".[166] Described as "cartoonlike", the first
iMac, clad in Bondi Blue plastic, was unlike any personal computer that came be
fore. In 1999, Apple introduced the Graphite gray Apple iMac and since has varie
d the shape, colour and size considerably while maintaining the all-in-one desig
n. Design ideas were intended to create a connection with the user such as the h
andle and a breathing light effect when the computer went to sleep.[167] The App
le iMac sold for $1,299 at that time. The iMac also featured some technical inno
vations, such as having USB ports as the only device inputs. This latter change
resulted, through the iMac s success, in the interface being popularised among t
hird party peripheral makers as evidenced by the fact that many early USB periph
erals were made of translucent plastic (to match the iMac design).[168]
iPod
Main article: iPod
The first generation of iPod was released October 23, 2001. The major innovation
of the iPod was its small size achieved by using a 1.8" hard drive compared to
the 2.5" drives common to players at that time. The capacity of the first genera
tion iPod ranged from 5G to 10 Gigabytes.[169] The iPod sold for US$399 and more
than 100,000 iPods were sold before the end of 2001. The introduction of the iP
od resulted in Apple becoming a major player in the music industry.[170] Also, t
he iPod s success prepared the way for the iTunes music store and the iPhone.[17
1] After the 1st generation of iPod, Apple released the hard drive-based iPod cl
assic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, video-capable iPod Nano, screenless iPod Shuf
fle in the following years.[170]
iPhone
Main article: iPhone
Apple began work on the first iPhone in 2005 and the first iPhone was released o
n June 29, 2007. The iPhone created such a sensation that a survey indicated six
out of ten Americans were aware of its release. Time Magazine declared it "Inve
ntion of the Year" for 2007.[172] The Apple iPhone is a small device with multim
edia capabilities and functions as a quad-band touch screen smartphone.[173] A y
ear later, the iPhone 3G was released in July 2008 with three key features: supp

ort for GPS, 3G data and tri-band UMTS/HSDPA. In June 2009, the iPhone 3GS, whos
e improvements included voice control, a better camera, and a faster processor,
was introduced by Phil Schiller.[174] The iPhone 4 is thinner than previous mode
ls, has a five megapixel camera capable of recording video in 720p HD, and adds
a secondary front-facing camera for video calls.[175] A major feature of the iPh
one 4S, introduced in October 2011, was Siri, a virtual assistant capable of voi
ce recognition.[172]
Philanthropy
Arik Hesseldahl of BusinessWeek magazine stated that "Jobs isn t widely known fo
r his association with philanthropic causes", compared to Bill Gates s efforts.[
176] In contrast to Gates, Jobs did not sign the Giving Pledge of Warren Buffett
which challenged the world s richest billionaires to give at least half their w
ealth to charity.[177] In an interview with Playboy in 1985, Jobs said with resp
ect to money, "The challenges are to figure out how to live with it and to reinv
est it back into the world, which means either giving it away or using it to exp
ress your concerns or values."[178] Jobs also added that when he has some time h
e would start a public foundation but for now he does charitable acts privately.
[179]
After resuming control of Apple in 1997, Jobs initially eliminated all corporate
philanthropy programs.[180] Jobs s friends told The New York Times that he felt
that expanding Apple would have done more good than giving money to charity.[18
1] Later, under Jobs, Apple signed to participate in the Product Red program, pr
oducing red versions of devices to give profits from sales to charity. Apple has
gone on to become the largest contributor to the charity since its initial invo
lvement with it. The chief of the Product Red project, singer Bono, cited Jobs s
aying there was "nothing better than the chance to save lives", when he initiall
y approached Apple with the invitation to participate in the program.[182] Throu
gh its sales, Apple has been the largest contributor to Product Red s gift to th
e Global Fund, which fights AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, according to Bono.[1
83][184]
Personal life
Jobs met his first girlfriend, the painter Chrisann Brennan, in 1972 at Homestea
d High School in Cupertino, California.[185] He was a senior, she was a junior,
and they continued to have an intermittent romantic relationship until 1977.[185
] During the summer of 1972, they lived together in a small cabin in Cupertino.[
186][185] In 1977, Brennan worked in Apple s Shipping Department[187][185][188]
when she lived with Jobs and another Apple employee, Daniel Kottke, in a house n
ear to the company.[185] Her relationship with Jobs ended however, when she gave
birth to their child Lisa, in 1978[185] and raised her on welfare while Jobs de
nied paternity.[189][185] He later acknowledged Lisa as his daughter[190] and ha
d her name changed on the birth certificate from "Lisa Brennan" to "Lisa Brennan
-Jobs."[185]
In the 1980s, Jobs found his birth mother, Joanne Schieble Simpson, who told him
he had a biological sister, Mona Simpson. They met for the first time in 1985,[
191] and became close friends. The siblings kept their relationship secret until
1986, when Mona introduced him at a party for her first book.[46] After decidin
g to search for their father, Simpson found Jandali managing a coffee shop. With
out knowing who his son had become, Jandali told Mona that he had previously man
aged a popular restaurant in Silicon Valley, mentioning that "even Steve Jobs us
ed to eat there. Yeah, he was a great tipper." In a taped interview with his bio
grapher Walter Isaacson, aired on 60 Minutes,[192] Jobs said: "When I was lookin
g for my biological mother, obviously, you know, I was looking for my biological
father at the same time, and I learned a little bit about him and I didn t like
what I learned. I asked her to not tell him that we ever met...not tell him any
thing about me."[193] Jobs was occasionally in touch with his mother Joanne Simp
son,[180][194] who lives in a nursing home in Los Angeles. When speaking about h

is biological parents, Jobs stated: "They were my sperm and egg bank. That s not
harsh, it s just the way it was, a sperm bank thing, nothing more."[40] In an A
ugust 2011 interview with The Sun, Jandali stated that his efforts to contact Jo
bs were unsuccessful. Jandali mailed in his medical history after Jobs s pancrea
tic disorder was made public that year.[38][195][196]
In her eulogy to Jobs at his memorial service, Mona Simpson stated:
I grew up as an only child, with a single mother. Because we were poor and becau
se I knew my father had emigrated from Syria, I imagined he looked like Omar Sha
rif. I hoped he would be rich and kind and would come into our lives (and our no
t yet furnished apartment) and help us. Later, after I d met my father, I tried
to believe he d changed his number and left no forwarding address because he was
an idealistic revolutionary, plotting a new world for the Arab people. Even as
a feminist, my whole life I d been waiting for a man to love, who could love me.
For decades, I d thought that man would be my father. When I was 25, I met that
man and he was my brother.[191]
Jobs dated Joan Baez for a few years in the early 80s. Elizabeth Holmes, a frien
d of Jobs from his time at Reed College, believed Jobs was interested in Baez be
cause she had been the lover of Bob Dylan, who was Jobs s favorite musician.[197
] Jobs confided in Joanna Hoffman his concerns about the relationship, and she w
ould later tell his official biographer: "She was a strong woman, and he wanted
to show he was in control. Plus, he always said he wanted to have a family, and
with her he knew that he wouldn t".[198]
Jobs was also a fan of The Beatles. He referred to them on multiple occasions at
Keynotes and was also interviewed on a showing of a Paul McCartney concert. Whe
n asked about his business model on 60 Minutes, he replied:
My model for business is The Beatles: They were four guys that kept each other s
negative tendencies in check; they balanced each other. And the total was great
er than the sum of the parts. Great things in business are never done by one per
son, they are done by a team of people.[199]
In 1982, Jobs bought an apartment in The San Remo, an apartment building in New
York City with a politically progressive reputation, where other apartments were
owned by Demi Moore, Steven Spielberg, Steve Martin, and Princess Yasmin Aga Kh
an, daughter of Rita Hayworth. With the help of I. M. Pei, Jobs spent years reno
vating his apartment in the top two floors of the building s north tower, only t
o sell it almost two decades later to U2 singer Bono. Jobs had never moved in.[2
00][201]
In 1984, Jobs purchased the Jackling House, a 17,000-square-foot (1,600 m2), 14bedroom Spanish Colonial mansion designed by George Washington Smith in Woodside
, California. Although it reportedly remained in an almost unfurnished state, Jo
bs lived in the mansion for almost ten years.
Jobs married Laurene Powell on March 18, 1991, in a ceremony at the Ahwahnee Hot
el in Yosemite National Park. Presiding over the wedding was Kobun Chino Otogawa
, a Zen Buddhist monk. Their son, Reed, was born September 1991, followed by dau
ghters Erin in August 1995 and Eve in 1998.[90] The family lived in the Old Palo
Alto neighborhood of Palo Alto, California.[202]
Steve Jobs s house in Palo Alto
According to reports, he kept a 1966 BMW R60/2 motorcycle in the living room of
the Jackling House, and let Bill Clinton use it in 1998. President Clinton dined
with Jobs and fourteen Silicon Valley CEOs there on August 7, 1996, at a meal c
atered by Greens Restaurant.[203][204] Clinton returned the favor and Jobs, who

was a Democratic donor, slept in the Lincoln bedroom of the White House.[205] Ac
cording to Isaacson, during one late-night phone call, Bill Clinton once asked J
obs for some advice about the Lewinsky scandal; when Jobs told the President tha
t, if the affair were true, " you ve got to tell the country ...There was silen
ce on the other end of the line."[206]
Jobs allowed Jackling House to fall into a state of disrepair, planning to demol
ish the house and build a smaller home on the property; but he met with complain
ts from local preservationists over his plans. In June 2004, the Woodside Town C
ouncil gave Jobs approval to demolish the mansion, on the condition that he adve
rtise the property for a year to see if someone would move it to another locatio
n and restore it. A number of people expressed interest, including several with
experience in restoring old property, but no agreements to that effect were reac
hed. Later that same year, a local preservationist group began seeking legal act
ion to prevent demolition. In January 2007, Jobs was denied the right to demolis
h the property by a court decision.[207] The court decision was overturned on ap
peal in March 2010, and the mansion was demolished beginning in February 2011.[2
08]
Shoulder-high portrait of two middle aged men, the one on left wearing a blue dr
ess shirt and suitcoat, the one on right wearing a black turtleneck shirt and wi
th his glasses pushed back onto his head and holding a phone facing them with an
Apple logo visible on its back
Jobs demonstrating the iPhone 4 to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on June 23,
2010
Jobs usually wore a black long-sleeved mock turtleneck made by Issey Miyake (tha
t was sometimes reported to be made by St. Croix), Levi s 501 blue jeans, and Ne
w Balance 991 sneakers.[209][210] His style was inspired by that of renowned Bro
wn University Applied Mathematics Professor Stuart Geman. Jobs told Walter Isaac
son "...he came to like the idea of having a uniform for himself, both because o
f its daily convenience (the rationale he claimed) and its ability to convey a s
ignature style."[209]
Jobs s car was a silver Mercedes-Benz SL 55 AMG, which did not display its licen
se plates, as he took advantage of a California law which gives a maximum of six
months for new vehicles to receive plates; Jobs leased a new SL every six month
s.[211] Jobs involved himself with the details of designing his 78-meter (256 ft
) luxury yacht Venus (named after the deity)[212] to keep thoughts of death at b
ay. It is also designed by Philippe Starck.[213] It was launched after Jobs s de
ath, and later impounded due to an unpaid debt to Starck, which was then paid by
Jobs s heirs.[214]
In a 2011 interview with biographer Walter Isaacson, Jobs revealed that at one p
oint he had met with U.S. President Barack Obama, complained of the nation s sho
rtage of software engineers, and told Obama that he was "headed for a one-term p
residency." Jobs proposed that any foreign student who got an engineering degree
at a U.S. university should automatically be offered a green card. After the me
eting, Jobs commented, "The president is very smart, but he kept explaining to u
s reasons why things can t get done.... It infuriates me."[215]
Jobs contributed to a number of political candidates and causes during his life,
giving $209,000 to Democrats, $45,700 to associated special interests, and $1,0
00 to a Republican.[216]
Health issues
In October 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with cancer,[217] and in mid-2004, he announ
ced to his employees that he had a cancerous tumor in his pancreas.[218] The pro
gnosis for pancreatic cancer is usually very poor;[219] Jobs stated that he had
a rare, far less aggressive type known as islet cell neuroendocrine tumor.[218]
Despite his diagnosis, Jobs resisted his doctors recommendations for medical in

tervention for nine months,[180] instead consuming a pseudo-medicine diet in an

attempt to thwart the disease. According to Harvard researcher Ramzi Amri, his c
hoice of alternative treatment "led to an unnecessarily early death."[217] Cance
r researcher and alternative medicine critic David Gorski "disagreed with Amri s
assessment," stating, "My best guess was that Jobs probably only modestly decre
ased his chances of survival, if that."[220] Barrie R. Cassileth, the chief of M
emorial SloanKettering Cancer Center s integrative medicine department,[221] said
"Jobss faith in alternative medicine likely cost him his life.... He had the onl
y kind of pancreatic cancer that is treatable and curable.... He essentially com
mitted suicide."[222] According to Jobs s biographer, Walter Isaacson, "for nine
months he refused to undergo surgery for his pancreatic cancer a decision he la
ter regretted as his health declined."[223] "Instead, he tried a vegan diet, acu
puncture, herbal remedies, and other treatments he found online, and even consul
ted a psychic. He was also influenced by a doctor who ran a clinic that advised
juice fasts, bowel cleansings and other unproven approaches, before finally havi
ng surgery in July 2004."[224] He eventually underwent a pancreaticoduodenectomy
(or "Whipple procedure") in July 2004, that appeared to remove the tumor succes
sfully.[225][226][227] Jobs apparently did not receive chemotherapy or radiation
therapy.[218][228] During Jobs s absence, Tim Cook, head of worldwide sales and
operations at Apple, ran the company.[218]
In early August 2006, Jobs delivered the keynote for Apple s annual Worldwide De
velopers Conference. His "thin, almost gaunt" appearance and unusually "listless
" delivery,[229][230] together with his choice to delegate significant portions
of his keynote to other presenters, inspired a flurry of media and Internet spec
ulation about his health.[231] In contrast, according to an Ars Technica journal
report, Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) attendees who saw Jobs in person
said he "looked fine".[232] Following the keynote, an Apple spokesperson said t
hat "Steve s health is robust."[233]
Two years later, similar concerns followed Jobs s 2008 WWDC keynote address.[234
] Apple officials stated that Jobs was victim to a "common bug" and was taking a
ntibiotics,[235] while others surmised his cachectic appearance was due to the W
hipple procedure.[228] During a July conference call discussing Apple earnings,
participants responded to repeated questions about Jobs s health by insisting th
at it was a "private matter". Others, however, voiced the opinion that sharehold
ers had a right to know more, given Jobs s hands-on approach to running his comp
any.[236][237] The New York Times published an article based on an off-the-recor
d phone conversation with Jobs, noting that "While his health problems amounted
to a good deal more than a common bug , they weren t life-threatening and he do
esn t have a recurrence of cancer."[238]
On August 28, 2008, Bloomberg mistakenly published a 2500-word obituary of Jobs
in its corporate news service, containing blank spaces for his age and cause of
death. (News carriers customarily stockpile up-to-date obituaries to facilitate
news delivery in the event of a well-known figure s death.) Although the error w
as promptly rectified, many news carriers and blogs reported on it,[239] intensi
fying rumors concerning Jobs s health.[240] Jobs responded at Apple s September
2008 Let s Rock keynote by essentially[241] quoting Mark Twain: "Reports of my d
eath are greatly exaggerated."[242] At a subsequent media event, Jobs concluded
his presentation with a slide reading "110/70", referring to his blood pressure,
stating he would not address further questions about his health.[243]
On December 16, 2008, Apple announced that marketing vice-president Phil Schille
r would deliver the company s final keynote address at the Macworld Conference a
nd Expo 2009, again reviving questions about Jobs s health.[244][245] In a state
ment given on January 5, 2009, on Apple.com,[246] Jobs said that he had been suf
fering from a "hormone imbalance" for several months.[247]
On January 14, 2009, in an internal Apple memo, Jobs wrote that in the previous

week he had "learned that my health-related issues

nally thought", and announced a six-month leave of
2009, to allow him to better focus on his health.
d as CEO in Jobs s 2004 absence, became acting CEO
l involved with "major strategic decisions."[248]

are more complex than I origi

absence until the end of June
Tim Cook, who previously acte
of Apple,[248] with Jobs stil

In April 2009, Jobs underwent a liver transplant at Methodist University Hospita

l Transplant Institute in Memphis, Tennessee.[249][250] Jobs s prognosis was des
cribed as "excellent".[249]
On January 17, 2011, a year and a half after Jobs returned from his liver transp
lant, Apple announced that he had been granted a medical leave of absence. Jobs
announced his leave in a letter to employees, stating his decision was made "so
he could focus on his health". As during his 2009 medical leave, Apple announced
that Tim Cook would run day-to-day operations and that Jobs would continue to b
e involved in major strategic decisions at the company.[251][252] Despite the le
ave, he made appearances at the iPad 2 launch event (March 2), the WWDC keynote
introducing iCloud (June 6), and before the Cupertino city council (June 7).[253
]
Jobs announced his resignation as Apple s CEO on August 24, 2011, writing to the
board, "I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet
my duties and expectations as Apples CEO, I would be the first to let you know.
Unfortunately, that day has come." [254] Jobs became chairman of the board there
after, naming Tim Cook his successor as CEO,[255][256] and continued to work for
Apple until the day before his death six weeks later.[257]
Death
Flags flying at half-staff outside Apple HQ in Cupertino, on the evening of Stev
e Jobs s death.
Memorial candles and iPads to Steve Jobs outside the Apple Store in Palo Alto, C
alifornia shortly after his death
Jobs died at his Palo Alto, California, home around 3 p.m. on October 5, 2011, d
ue to complications from a relapse of his previously treated islet-cell neuroend
ocrine pancreatic cancer,[42][258][259] resulting in respiratory arrest.[260] He
had lost consciousness the day before, and died with his wife, children, and si
sters at his side.[191]
Both Apple and Microsoft flew their flags at half-staff throughout their respect
ive headquarters and campuses.[261][262] Bob Iger ordered all Disney properties,
including Walt Disney World and Disneyland, to fly their flags at half-staff fr
om October 6 to 12, 2011.[263]
His death was announced by Apple in a statement which read:
We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.
Steve s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations
that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better becau
se of Steve.
His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out t
o them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.[264]
For two weeks following his death, Apple s corporate Web site displayed a simple
page, showing Jobs s name and lifespan next to his grayscale portrait.[265] Cli
cking on the image led to an obituary, which read:

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazin
g human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with
Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a com
pany that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundatio
n of Apple.[265]
An email address was also posted for the public to share their memories, condole
nces, and thoughts.[266][267] Over a million tributes were sent, which are now d
isplayed on the Steve Jobs memorial page.
Also dedicating its homepage to Jobs was Pixar, with a photo of Jobs, John Lasse
ter and Edwin Catmull, and the eulogy they wrote:[268]
Steve was an extraordinary visionary, our very dear friend, and our guiding ligh
t of the Pixar family. He saw the potential of what Pixar could be before the re
st of us, and beyond what anyone ever imagined. Steve took a chance on us and be
lieved in our crazy dream of making computer animated films; the one thing he al
ways said was to make it great. He is why Pixar turned out the way we did and
his strength, integrity, and love of life has made us all better people. He will
forever be part of Pixar s DNA. Our hearts go out to his wife Laurene and their
children during this incredibly difficult time.[268]
A small private funeral was held on October 7, 2011, of which details were not r
evealed out of respect to Jobs s family.[269] Apple announced on the same day th
at they had no plans for a public service, but were encouraging "well-wishers" t
o send their remembrance messages to an email address created to receive such me
ssages.[270] Sunday, October 16, 2011, was declared "Steve Jobs Day" by Governor
Jerry Brown of California.[271] On that day, an invitation-only memorial was he
ld at Stanford University. Those in attendance included Apple and other tech com
pany executives, members of the media, celebrities, close friends of Jobs, and p
oliticians, along with Jobs s family. Bono, Yo Yo Ma, and Joan Baez performed at
the service, which lasted longer than an hour. The service was highly secured,
with guards at all of the university s gates, and a helicopter flying overhead f
rom an area news station.[272][273]
A private memorial service for Apple employees was held on October 19, 2011, on
the Apple Campus in Cupertino. Present were Cook, Bill Campbell, Norah Jones, Al
Gore, and Coldplay, and Jobs s widow, Laurene. Some of Apple s retail stores cl
osed briefly so employees could attend the memorial. A video of the service is a
vailable on Apple s website.[274]
Jobs is buried in an unmarked grave at Alta Mesa Memorial Park, the only non-den
ominational cemetery in Palo Alto.[275][276] He is survived by Laurene, his wife
of 20 years, their three children, and Lisa Brennan-Jobs, his daughter from a p
revious relationship.[277] His family released a statement saying that he "died
peacefully".[278][279] His sister, Mona Simpson, described his passing thus: "St
eves final words, hours earlier, were monosyllables, repeated three times. Before
embarking, hed looked at his sister Patty, then for a long time at his children,
then at his lifes partner, Laurene, and then over their shoulders past them. Ste
ves final words were: OH WOW. OH WOW. OH WOW." He then lost consciousness and die
d several hours later.[191]