Editing Ronald Wayne

{{short description|American businessperson and co-founder of Apple Inc.}}
{{Use American English|date=August 2020}} 
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Ronald Wayne
| image              = Ronald-Wayne.webp
| alt                = 
| caption            = Wayne in 2022
| birth_name         = Ronald Gerald Wayne
| birth_date         = {{birth date and age|1934|5|17}}
| birth_place        = [[Cleveland]], Ohio, U.S.
| known for          = Co-founder of [[Apple Inc.]]
| footnotes          = 
}}

'''Ronald Gerald Wayne''' (born May 17, 1934) is an American retired [[electronics industry]] business executive. He co-founded Apple Computer Company (now [[Apple Inc.]]) as a partnership with [[Steve Wozniak]] and [[Steve Jobs]] on April 1, 1976, providing administrative oversight and documentation for the new venture. Twelve days later, he sold his 10% share of the new company back to Jobs and Wozniak, for {{US$|800|year=1976|round=-2}}, and one year later accepted a final {{US$|1500|year=1976|round=-2|long=no}} to forfeit any potential future claims against the newly incorporated company.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Martin |first1=Emmie |title=Apple hit a $1 trillion market cap—here's why its third co-founder sold his 10% stake for $800 |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/02/why-ronald-wayne-sold-his-10-percent-stake-in-apple-for-800-dollars.html |access-date=August 2, 2018 |work=CNBC |date=August 2, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Just nine of the world's richest men have more combined wealth than the poorest 4 billion people |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/richest-billionaires-combined-wealth-jeff-bezos-bill-gates-warren-buffett-mark-zuckerberg-carlos-a8163621.html |access-date=August 2, 2018 |work=The Independent}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite news | first=Dave | last=Lee | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35940300 | title=Apple at 40: The forgotten founder who gave it all away | work=[[BBC News]] | date=April 1, 2016}}</ref> He has been often referred to by media as the 'forgotten founder' of Apple.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2016-04-01 |title=Apple at 40: The forgotten founder who gave it all away |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-35940300 |access-date=2025-05-15 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Wayne was born in [[Cleveland]], Ohio, on May 17, 1934.<ref name="ronaldgwayne.com/bio">{{cite web | website = ronaldgwayne.com |url= http://ronaldgwayne.com/bio |title=Bio |publisher= | access-date= September 2, 2015 | archive-date = February 23, 2015 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150223222157/http://www.ronaldgwayne.com/bio | url-status=live}}</ref> He trained as a technical draftsman at the [[High School of Art and Design|School of Industrial Art]] High School in New York City.<ref name="Dormehl">{{cite web |last=Dormehl |first=Luke |date=December 3, 2014 |title=The oddly uplifting story of the Apple co-founder who sold his stake for $800 |url=http://www.cultofmac.com/304686/ron-wayne-apple-co-founder/ |publisher=Cult of Mac}}</ref>

==Career==
In 1956, aged 22, he moved to California. In 1971, Wayne started his first business designing and manufacturing [[slot machine]]s. This venture failed within its first year of operation.{{cn|date=March 2024}}

===Atari (1973–1976)===
As Senior Designer, Wayne established the official documentation and materials control systems at Atari. This sophisticated cataloging and inventory tracking system dramatically improved Atari's manufacturing efficiency and eliminated substantial losses attributable to lost, duplicated, and mis-filed raw materials required to fabricate final complete video game systems. The documentation system included operating instructions, circuit diagrams, and cabinet designs for all arcade games sold by Atari. As product development manager, he designed video game enclosures and led development of games such as ''Gran-Track Racing''. His Atari tenure ended following the Warner Communications acquisition.

===Apple (1976–1977)===
In 1976, Wayne was well respected for his sophisticated and comprehensive internal corporate documentation systems at the three-year-old [[Atari]].<ref name="On Co-founding Apple">{{cite web |last=Luo |first=Benny |date=September 12, 2013 |title=Ronald Wayne: On Co-founding Apple and Working With Steve Jobs |url=http://nextshark.com/ronald-wayne-interview/ |publisher=Nextshark}}</ref> There, he met coworkers [[Steve Jobs]] and [[Steve Wozniak]].<ref name="Steve Jobs book">{{cite book | author-link= Walter Isaacson | first=Walter | last= Isaacson | title=[[Steve Jobs (book)|Steve Jobs]] | publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] | year=2011 | isbn=978-1451648539 | page=[https://archive.org/details/stevejobs00isaa/page/44 44] }}</ref> To assist in mediation of one of their typically intense discussions about the design of computers and the future of the industry, Wayne invited the pair to his home to facilitate and advise them. In the ensuing two-hour conversation about technology and business, Jobs proposed the founding of a computer company led by Wozniak and himself. The two would each hold a 45% stake so that Wayne could receive a 10% stake to act as a tie-breaker in their decisions.<ref name="Pahrum Nevada Man">{{Cite web |date=June 25, 2010 |title=Pahrump Nevada Man Could Have Been Apple Billionaire now lives in Mobile Home Park |url=http://www.realpahrump.com/pahrump-nevada-man-could-have-been-apple-billionaire/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140828024328/http://realpahrump.com/pahrump-nevada-man-could-have-been-apple-billionaire/ |archive-date=August 28, 2014 |access-date=July 5, 2010 |website=RealPaurump.com |publisher=}}</ref> As the venture's self-described "adult in the room"<ref name="On Co-founding Apple" /><ref name="mercurynews" /> at age 41, Wayne drafted  the original [[partnership agreement]], and the three founded [[Apple Inc.|Apple Computer]] on April 1, 1976. Wayne created the first illustrations of the [[Apple logo]]<ref name="telegraph.co.uk">{{cite news| url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/7624539/US-pensioner-Ronald-Wayne-gave-up-15bn-slice-of-Apple.html |title=US pensioner Ronald Wayne gave up £15bn slice of Apple| work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]| location =UK|date= April 23, 2010|access-date= September 2, 2015| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121114123759/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/7624539/US-pensioner-Ronald-Wayne-gave-up-15bn-slice-of-Apple.html | archive-date=November 14, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> (known as Apple Newton). He also wrote the [[Apple I]] Operations Manual.<ref name="On Co-founding Apple" /><ref name="mercurynews">{{cite news | url = http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_15214122| title= Woz, Jobs and ... Wayne? Apple's forgotten founder still wandering in the desert | work= [[Mercury News]]| location= San Jose, California|date= June 2, 2010| quote=Twelve days after Wayne wrote the document that formally created Apple, he returned to the registrar's office and renounced his role in the company. When Jobs and Wozniak filed for incorporation a year later, Wayne received a letter asking him to officially forfeit any claims against the company, and he received another check, this time for $1,500.| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100603032439/http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_15214122 | archive-date=June 3, 2010| url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="woz.org">{{cite web| author-link=Steve Wozniak| last= Wozniak| first=Steve | url = http://www.woz.org/letters/pirates/09.html |title= Letters-General Questions Answered | publisher= Steve Wozniak official site |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20000817234627/http://www.woz.org/letters/pirates/09.html | archive-date=August 17, 2000}}</ref>

Wayne's attitude concerning business was already risk-averse following his experience five years prior with the "very traumatic" failure of his slot machine business, the debts from which he had spent one year repaying.<ref name="On Co-founding Apple" /><ref name="mercurynews" /> Jobs secured a {{US$|15,000|long=no}} [[line of credit]] to purchase materials needed to fabricate Apple's first order placed by the [[Byte Shop]], a business with a reputation as a notoriously slow-paying vendor. This created  great anxiety in Wayne concerning his personal financial exposure.<ref name="On Co-founding Apple" /><ref name="Pahrum Nevada Man" /> Legally, all members of a [[partnership taxation in the United States|partnership]] are personally responsible for any debts incurred by any partner; unlike Jobs and Wozniak, then 21 and 25, Wayne had already acquired a sizable amount of personal assets that potential creditors could possibly seize.<ref name="woz.org" /><ref name="seibold">{{cite web| url= http://www.applematters.com/article/april-12-1976-ron-wayne-apples-third-founder-quits/|title=April 12, 1976: Ron Wayne, Apple's Third Founder, Quits |publisher=Apple Matters| first= Chris| last= Seibold|date=April 12, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150201072410/http://www.applematters.com/article/april-12-1976-ron-wayne-apples-third-founder-quits/ | archive-date= February 1, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> Furthermore, his passion was in original product engineering and in slot machines, and not in the documentation systems Jobs and Wozniak expected him to manage, possibly indefinitely at Apple. Believing he was "standing in the shadow of giants" of product-design and eager to shield himself from financial exposure, he exited the company.<ref name="On Co-founding Apple" /> "Twelve days after Wayne created the document that formally created Apple, he returned to the county registrar's office filing an amendment formally withdrawing his name and involvement in the company". Wayne was later paid {{US$|800|long=no}} in exchange for relinquishing his equity stake in the company.<ref name="woz.org" /><ref name="CNN">{{cite news |url= http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/06/24/apple.forgotten.founder/index.html?hpt=C1&fbid=lG95iTlU4iD |title=The gambling man who co-founded Apple and left for $800 |publisher=[[CNN]] |first=Dan |last=Simon |date=June 24, 2010 |access-date=June 24, 2010 | quote= Wayne left Apple for only $800. "What can I say? You make a decision based on your understanding of the circumstances, and you live with it," he said.| archive-date=June 26, 2010| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100626070007/http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/06/24/apple.forgotten.founder/index.html| url-status=live}}</ref> The exact timeframe of this exit has been disputed by Steve Wozniak, who in an interview said that Wayne left the company after a few months.<ref>{{Cite web|date=January 13, 2011|title=Steve Wozniak discusses the 'lost' Apple co-founder, Ron Wayne|website=[[YouTube]] |url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPyI_RtHFGU&ab_channel=PHPAgency%2CInc.| archive-url= https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211117/hPyI_RtHFGU| archive-date=November 17, 2021 | url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Wayne has stated in the decades that followed, he does not regret selling his share of the company, as he made the "best decision based on the information available at the time".<ref name= "linzmayer">{{cite book| last= Linzmayer| first= Owen W. | url = http://extras.denverpost.com/books/chap0411h.htm | chapter=Chapter one: The Forgotten Founder | title=Apple Confidential: The Real Story of Apple Computer, Inc.| publisher= No Starch Press |via=[[The Denver Post]] | access-date=March 31, 2010| archive-date=April 11, 2015| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150411151150/http://extras.denverpost.com/books/chap0411h.htm | url-status=live}}</ref> He remarked in an interview in April 2016 that his one regret was selling his copy of the original signed contract for $500 after the same document was sold for $1.6 million many years later.<ref name=":0" /> He said he had truly believed that the Apple enterprise "would be successful, but at the same time there could be significant bumps along the way and I couldn't risk it. I had already had a rather unfortunate business experience. I was getting too old and those two men were whirlwinds. It was like having a tiger by the tail. I couldn't keep up with these guys."<ref name= "telegraph.co.uk"/> Although Apple ended up at one point becoming the most valuable company in the world, he said that given the risks and stress of staying with Apple he "probably would have wound up the richest man in the cemetery".<ref name="On Co-founding Apple"/> 

===Contributions===
{{BLP unreferenced section|date=January 2024}}
* The internal system documentation and inventory tracking systems Wayne developed for Atari were immediately adapted for use by Apple. 
* The first company logo, known as Apple Newton, was crafted by Wayne.
* The original Apple I prototype system was constructed using wire wrap technology, linking the microprocessor and individual circuit components together. Ronald created the detailed printed circuit drawings contained in the ''Apple-1 Operations Manual''.
* The detailed printed circuit drawings enabled external creation of the final printed circuit board artwork and fabrication of mass quantities of printed circuit boards, or motherboards.  Motherboards were essential for the new enterprise to mass produce consumer ready Apple I computer systems.
* Ronald created the ''Apple-1 Operations Manual'', providing initial consumers with detailed instructions needed for assembly and operation of this new home computing appliance that, in 1976, had no specifically defined purposes. 
* Apple I initially had no formal electronics enclosure or console. Some purchasers improvised using large briefcases as an informal enclosure. For the Apple II, it was necessary to evolve and create a very efficient and effective case to enclose and protect system components.
* To streamline the profile, reduce footprint space and cost, and to eliminate system assembly and system component connections, he devised and implemented a novel horizontally mounted motherboard. This new orientation allows the monitor to be positioned atop the computer enclosure while allowing as many of the individual components to fit within the single console compartment. 

===After Apple===
Shortly after leaving Apple, Wayne resisted Jobs's attempts to get him to return, remaining at [[Atari, Inc.|Atari]] until 1978, when he joined [[Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory]] and later Thor Electronics''',''' an electronics manufacturing company in [[Salinas, California]].<ref name="linzmayer"/>

In the late 1970s, Wayne ran a [[philately|stamp shop]] in [[Milpitas, California]], for a short time. After several break-ins, he transferred his stamp operations to his home.<ref name="linzmayer" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=May 13, 2016 |title=Former Apple co-founder finds passion in stamp collection |url= https://pvtimes.com/community/former-apple-co-founder-finds-passion-in-stamp-collection/ |access-date=November 4, 2022 |website=Pahrump Valley Times |language=en-US}}</ref>

Steve Jobs approached him again as a business contact for Apple, but Wayne refused to forward Jobs's proposal to purchase a friend's company. Wayne believed that his friend should retain ownership of the company, supplying this technology to Apple under exclusive license instead of selling the business. Wayne later expressed regret for interfering with this decision instead of allowing the negotiations to be made directly between the parties.<ref name="On Co-founding Apple"/>

==Media==
Wayne appeared in the documentary ''[[Welcome to Macintosh (film)|Welcome to Macintosh]]'' in 2008, where he describes some of his early experiences with Jobs and Wozniak.<ref name="Doc1">{{cite web |author=512k Entertainment |date=January 1, 2008 |title=Life Before Apple |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OHdTqK4K2I |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508183209/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OHdTqK4K2I |archive-date=May 8, 2016 |website=[[YouTube]] }}</ref>

In July 2011, Wayne published a memoir titled ''Adventures of an Apple Founder''. His plan for initial exclusivity on the [[Apple Books]] store did not materialize.<ref name="Official Website">{{cite web|url=http://www.ronaldgwayne.com/page/adventures-apple-founder |title=Adventures of an Apple Founder on iTunes store |publisher=Ronald G Wayne |date=September 3, 2011 |access-date=November 11, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111001065641/http://ronaldgwayne.com/content/adventures-apple-founder-itunes-store | archive-date=October 1, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

Wayne wrote and released a socioeconomic treatise titled ''Insolence of Office'', released on October 1, 2011.<ref name="Official Website" />

== Personal life ==
Wayne lives in [[Pahrump, Nevada]].<ref name=":0" />

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Portal|United States|LGBTQ}}
* {{Official website|http://ronaldgwayne.com}}
* [http://vimeo.com/2892147 Ron Wayne interview by OMT]
* [https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127816212 NPR report "Lost" Apple Founder Has No Regrets] – June 13, 2010
* [http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/10/ron_wayne_apple.php Ron Wayne, Apple Co-Founder, Shares Steve Jobs' "Richest Man in the Cemetery" Sentiment Almost Verbatim] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141207183600/http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/10/ron_wayne_apple.php |date=December 7, 2014 }}, ''[[Village Voice]]'', October 8, 2011
* {{Triangulation|186|Ronald G. Wayne}}
{{Apple Inc.}}
{{Apple celeb}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wayne, Ronald}}
[[Category:1934 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Apple Inc. employees]]
[[Category:Apple Inc. executives]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Cleveland]]
[[Category:High School of Art and Design alumni]]
[[Category:People from Pahrump, Nevada]]