1. pBornSteven Paul JobsFebruary 24, 1955 (age 56) San Francisco, California, U.S. ResidencePalo Alto, California, U.S. NationalityAmericanAlma materReed College (dropped out in 1972)OccupationChairman, Apple Inc.SalaryUS$1Net worth$8.3 billion (2011) Board member ofThe Walt Disney Company, Apple, Inc.ReligionBuddhismSpouseLaurene Powell (1991–present)Children4RelativesMona Simpson (sister)Signature <br /> Steve Jobs, Apple.Inc.<br />Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple.Inc was born in San Francisco and was adopted by Paul and Clara Jobs of Mountain View, California, who named him Steven Paul.<br />Jobs attended Cupertino Junior High School and Homestead High School in Cupertino, California, and frequented after-school lectures at the Hewlett-Packard Company in Palo Alto, California. He was soon hired there and worked with Steve Wozniak as a summer employee. In 1972, Jobs graduated from high school and enrolled in Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Although he dropped out after only one semester, he continued auditing classes at Reed, such as one in calligraphy, while sleeping on the floor in friends' rooms, returning Coke bottles for food money, and getting weekly free meals at the local Hare Krishna temple.<br />In autumn 1974, Jobs returned to California and began attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club with Wozniak. He took a job as a technician at Atari, a manufacturer of popular video games, with the primary intent of saving money for a spiritual retreat to India.<br />n 1976, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne with later funding from a then-semi-retired Intel product-marketing manager and engineer A.C. quot;
Mikequot;
Markkula Jr., founded Apple. Prior to co-founding Apple, Wozniak was an electronics hacker. Jobs and Wozniak had been friends for several years, having met in 1971, when their mutual friend, Bill Fernandez, introduced 21-year-old Wozniak to 16-year-old Jobs. Steve Jobs managed to interest Wozniak in assembling a computer and selling it. As Apple continued to expand, the company began looking for an experienced executive to help manage its expansion.<br />n 1978, Apple recruited Mike Scott from National Semiconductor to serve as CEO for what turned out to be several turbulent years. In 1983, Steve Jobs lured John Sculley away from Pepsi-Cola to serve as Apple's CEO, asking, quot;
Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to come with me and change the world?quot;
The following year, Apple aired a Super Bowl television commercial titled quot;
1984.quot;
At Apple's annual shareholders meeting on January 24, 1984, an emotional Jobs introduced the Macintoshto a wildly enthusiastic audience; Andy Hertzfeld described the scene as quot;
pandemonium.quot;
The Macintosh became the first commercially successful small computer with a graphical user interface. The development of the Mac was started by Jef Raskin, and eventually taken over by Jobs.<br />n 1986, Jobs bought The Graphics Group (later renamed Pixar) from Lucasfilm's computer graphics division for the price of $10 million, $5 million of which was given to the company as capital.<br />The new company, which was originally based at Lucasfilm's Kerner Studios in San Rafael, California, but has since relocated to Emeryville, California, was initially intended to be a high-end graphics hardware developer. After years of unprofitability selling the Pixar Image Computer, it contracted with Disney to produce a number of computer-animated feature films, which Disney would co-finance and distribute.<br />The first film produced by the partnership, Toy Story, brought fame and critical acclaim to the studio when it was released in 1995. Finding 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.<br />In 1996, Apple announced that it would buy NeXT for $429 million. The deal was finalized in late 1996, bringing Jobs back to the company he had co-founded. Jobs became de facto chief after then-CEO Gil Amelio was ousted in July. He was formally named interim chief executive in September 1997. In March 1998, to concentrate Apple's efforts on returning to profitability, Jobs terminated a number of projects, such as Newton, Cyberdog, and OpenDoc.<br />In recent years, the company has branched out, introducing and improving upon other digital appliances. With the introduction of the iPod portable music player, iTunes digital music software, and the iTunes Store, the company made forays into consumer electronics and music distribution. In 2007, Apple entered the cellular phone business with the introduction of the iPhone, a multi-touch display cell phone, which also included the features of an iPod and, with its own mobile browser, revolutionized the mobile browsing scene. While stimulating innovation, Jobs also reminds his employees that quot;
real artists shipquot;
, by which he means that delivering working products on time is as important as innovation and attractive design.<br />n 2005, Jobs responded to criticism of Apple's poor recycling programs for e-waste in the U.S. by lashing out at environmental and other advocates at Apple's Annual Meeting in Cupertino in April. However, a few weeks later, Apple announced it would take back iPods for free at its retail stores. The Computer Take Back Campaign responded by flying a banner from a plane over the Stanford University graduation at which Jobs was the commencement speaker. The banner read quot;
Steve — Don't be a mini-player recycle all e-wastequot;
. In 2006, he further expanded Apple's recycling programs to any U.S. customer who buys a new Mac. This program includes shipping and quot;
environmentally friendly disposalquot;
of their old systems.<br />n August 2011, Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple, but remained at the company as chairman of the company's board. Hours after the announcement, Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares dropped 5% in after-hour trading. The relatively small drop, when considering the importance of Jobs to Apple, was associated with the fact that Jobs' health had been in the news for several years, and he was on medical leave since January 2011. It was believed, according to Forbes, that the impact would be felt in a negative way beyond Apple, including at The Walt Disney Company where Jobs serves as director.[ In after-hour trading on the day of the announcement, Walt Disney Co. (DIS) shares dropped 1.5%.<br />Even though Jobs earned only $1 a year as CEO of Apple, he holds 5.426 million Apple shares, as well as 138 million shares in Disney (which he had received in exchange for Disney's acquisition of Pixar). Forbes has estimated his net wealth at $8.3 billion in 2010, making him the 42nd wealthiest American.<br />Jobs is listed as either primary inventor or co-inventor in 338 US patents or patent applications related to a range of technologies from actual computer and portable devices to user interfaces (including touch-based), speakers, keyboards, power adapters, staircases, clasps, sleeves, lanyards and packages.<br />