Steven Paul Jobs was born in San Francisco, California on February 24, 1955. Raised by adoptive parents, Jobs attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon but dropped out before graduating, instead, taking a job as a video game designer.
In 1974, Steve Jobs went into business with his old high school friend Steve Wozniak, with their goal being to develop Wozniak’s computer design. After selling Jobs’ Volkswagen minibus and Wozniak’s programmable calculator, the two obtained the funds to create the first Apple product – the Apple I.
As a result of financing and publicity acquired by Jobs, Apple Computer was incorporated in 1977. Until 1985, when he was removed from the company, Jobs worked for Apple Computer, during this time leading a team of designers and engineers in creating the first Mac computer.
When Jobs was fired from Apple, he started NeXT Inc., developing computers for the education sector. Unfortunately, this didn’t pan out so well, and Jobs soon changed the direction of the company to focus on software.
In 1986, Jobs acquired a controlling share of Pixar, eventually building the company into a major and well-known animation studio. Pixar’s success ultimately made Jobs a billionaire. In 2006, he sold Pixar to Disney for $7.4 billion.
In 1996, in an attempt to replace Mac’s outdated operating software, Apple bought Jobs’ NEXTSTEP company for $400 million and hired him as a consultant. Then, shortly after, in 1997, Jobs was hired as Apple’s CEO once again.
Over the next several years, Jobs would help Apple to become one of the biggest and most innovated tech companies, introducing revolutionary products to the world including the iMac iTunes, iPod and iPhone.
Sadly, Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003. After years of struggling with health issues, Jobs resigned as CEO in August 2011 and died just two short months later.