Apple founding documents sell for $1.6M

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
The original contract from 1976 that Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne signed to formally found the Apple Computer Company was sold at auction for more than ten times its estimated value.



When the hammer dropped at Sotheby's books and manuscript auction on Tuesday, the final price of the contract and associated documents came in at $1,594,500 with the buyer's premium, a more than tenfold increase over the $150,000 price tag that experts had initially estimated.



Bidding started at $70,000 for the lot and reached seven digit territory after only ten minutes on the block. The winning offer came from an unidentified phone bidder who paid $1.35 million plus a buyer's premium of $244,500 to own the historic tech documents.



The legally-binding document signed by the three co-founders was originally owned by Wayne, who was granted a 10% stake in the company after having successfully persuaded Wozniak, who at the time worked for Hewlett-Packard, to join Apple.



According to a statement by the County of Santa Clara, which was also included in Tuesday's auction, Wayne received $800 for his share of Apple. Though he later received an additional payment of $1,500, his original 10% stake would be worth an estimated $36 billion today had he not elected to withdraw from the partnership just 11 days later.







None of the co-founders remain at the company today, with Wozniak formally ending his full-time employment in 1987 and Jobs resigning as CEO in August due to complications stemming from his long bout with pancreatic cancer, which he unfortunately could not overcome.



Jobs passed away on Oct. 5, 2011 at the age of 56.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 20
    It makes complete sense that this document would sell for $1.6 million.



    NOT.
  • Reply 2 of 20
    tylerk36tylerk36 Posts: 1,037member
    The phone buyer was an apple legal exec who bought it to prevent any one person to try and use it for illegitimate purposes.
  • Reply 3 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by scotty321 View Post


    It makes complete sense that this document would sell for $1.6 million.



    NOT.



    Of course it makes sense. Things are worth what people are willing to pay for them.
  • Reply 4 of 20
    I thought the estimates were really low. I'm not at all surprised that the papers went for 1.6 mil. I won't be surprised when they sell for double or more when the current owner puts them back up for auction.
  • Reply 5 of 20
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,309moderator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post


    Of course it makes sense. Things are worth what people are willing to pay for them.



    Which benefits the wealthy who change money into assets that accrue value over time so that they can make more money doing nothing. The buyer might auction the papers again when Apple is worth double what they are now for $5m in just a few years. The trick is to avoid being the last one holding a multi-million dollar piece of paper no one else is willing to pay for.
  • Reply 6 of 20
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    The price makes perfect sense to me. This is Apple that we are talking about here. This is a piece of history.
  • Reply 7 of 20
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Are we certain Samsung didn't mistakenly buy it thinking they could copy something else from Apple?
  • Reply 8 of 20
    Dont get me wrong. I love Apple. but f***k that. I can think of soooooooooooooooooooooo many more interesting things to spend that kind of money on. Obviously it is unlikely I will ever meet this person as I am sure there are well outside my socio-economic demographic but if I ever did, I would likely laugh AT them. One thing is for certain, I would not be impressed.
  • Reply 9 of 20
    bageljoeybageljoey Posts: 2,004member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post


    Are we certain Samsung didn't mistakenly buy it thinking they could copy something else from Apple?





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by alkrantz View Post


    Dont get me wrong. I love Apple. but f***k that. I can think of soooooooooooooooooooooo many more interesting things to spend that kind of money on. Obviously it is unlikely I will ever meet this person as I am sure there are well outside my socio-economic demographic but if I ever did, I would likely laugh AT them. One thing is for certain, I would not be impressed.



    Well, I know nothing about this purchase, but your rush to ridicule is typical of our society these days. Why are you so sure he (or she) is trying to impress you? If they are able to sell them a few years from now for significantly more, are you going to bother to publically admit that you were wrong?



    Bottom line is we do not know what this person was thinking (investment, personal collector, gift for someone they want to sleep with...) so it doesn't make abut sense to criticize them personally.

    If you want to say it is a risky or bad investment, that I could agree with. I imagine that Jobs' passing makes this a high water mark for Apple collectables.
  • Reply 10 of 20
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by alkrantz View Post


    I would likely laugh AT them.



    They would most likely be laughing right back at you.



    The Cisneros Group of Companies is one of the largest privately held media, entertainment, telecommunications and consumer products organizations in the world.
  • Reply 11 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by scotty321 View Post


    It makes complete sense that this document would sell for $1.6 million.



    NOT.



    Agreed! Idiots
  • Reply 12 of 20
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    I hope Ron Wayne got a chunk of this. Might make that $36 billion fictional pot of gold not hurt so much. It would go a long way over there in Pahrump.
  • Reply 13 of 20
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Flaneur View Post


    I hope Ron Wayne got a chunk of this.



    Why would he? He sold the document in 1994 for a few thousand.



    The document was acquired by US business executive Wade Saadi in 1994 from Mr Wayne for a few thousand dollars.



    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...t-auction.html



    That guy just makes one bad decision after another.
  • Reply 14 of 20
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Apple ][ View Post


    Why would he? He sold the document in 1994 for a few thousand.



    The document was acquired by US business executive Wade Saadi in 1994 from Mr Wayne for a few thousand dollars.



    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...t-auction.html



    That guy just makes one bad decision after another.



    Well then, he wouldn't, would he. No need to get cute about it.



    And he has said he made the right decision at the time. No need to twist an imaginary knife.



    He seems comfortable in his own skin. No need to visit your world view on him.



    That's three things you didn't need to say.
  • Reply 15 of 20
    Ugh, as much as I can understand the rich and their obsession with rare objects, even the biggest Apple fan rich guy couldn't get a hard on from something as boring as this.



    I would pay 1.6 million dollars for, I dunno, a draft of the constitution or something like that.
  • Reply 16 of 20
    chris_cachris_ca Posts: 2,543member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by alkrantz View Post


    Dont get me wrong. I love Apple. but f***k that. I can think of soooooooooooooooooooooo many more interesting things to spend that kind of money on



    If you had $1.6 million laying around to spend on a few bits of paper, then you'd obviously have a few thousands times more than that to do this more interesting things.

    I doubt they are going to miss a house payment because they are stretched a bit thin.
  • Reply 17 of 20
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Flaneur View Post


    Well then, he wouldn't, would he. No need to get cute about it.



    And he has said he made the right decision at the time. No need to twist an imaginary knife.



    He seems comfortable in his own skin. No need to visit your world view on him.



    That's three things you didn't need to say.



    What you call cute, I call facts.



    The guy was clearly ignorant of Apple and that probably explains why he underestimated the importance of Apple, more than once.



    We're talking about a guy who has never owned an Apple product in his entire life.



    (edit) - Somebody gave him an iPad 2 in Sept 2011, so I guess that's his first ever Apple product, and maybe he recognizes how great Apple is now.
  • Reply 18 of 20
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by akhomerun View Post


    Ugh, as much as I can understand the rich and their obsession with rare objects, even the biggest Apple fan rich guy couldn't get a hard on from something as boring as this.



    I would pay 1.6 million dollars for, I dunno, a draft of the constitution or something like that.



    Value is relative. You might not ever pay more than $5.00 for a hamburger, but to a person with millions or billions, such a small amount may seem meaningless.



    Being rich is not a crime, and it's embarrassing to see so much criticism over this purchase that doesn't affect anyone here in the least.
  • Reply 19 of 20
    I do hope that it was Apple who won the bid.



    Oh, even though Woz stopped being a full-time employee in 1987, he is still on the books as an employee; he never stopped being an employee of Apple.
  • Reply 20 of 20
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by michelle_eris View Post


    I do hope that it was Apple who won the bid.



    Oh, even though Woz stopped being a full-time employee in 1987, he is still on the books as an employee; he never stopped being an employee of Apple.



    Nope, not Apple. Read post #11.
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