June 18, 1993: John Sculley steps down as Apple CEO after a 10-year run.
Sculley is requested to go away by the Apple board after AAPL shares collapse from a excessive of $4.33 in 1992 to 73 cents the next yr. He fingers over the CEO position to Michael Spindler earlier than briefly taking the position of Apple chairman, previous to departing altogether.
From promoting sugar water to altering the world
Sculley joined Apple in Might 1983 as its third president and CEO, following Mike Scott and Mike Markkula. He was lured to Apple from PepsiCo by Steve Jobs, who used one of the well-known strains in enterprise historical past.
“Do you need to spend the remainder of your life promoting sugar water or would you like an opportunity to alter the world?” Jobs requested Sculley.
Whereas Jobs and Sculley initially deliberate to work aspect by aspect, tensions shortly flared between the 2. The consequence was that Jobs was pressured out of Apple after trying a boardroom coup in 1985.
Regardless of that legacy looming over him, Sculley was initially profitable at Apple. The non-public laptop business was rising quickly, and he possessed the enterprise chops to verify Apple was a part of it. Over his decade at Apple, he elevated gross sales from $800 million to $8 billion. He additionally oversaw the launch of some good merchandise, such because the enormously profitable PowerBook 100 sequence of laptops.
Sculley additionally oversaw growth of the Apple Newton, an ahead-of-its-time cell system that launched later in 1993. The Newton flopped initially, and by no means grew to become a gross sales juggernaut. Nonetheless, it’s now rightly considered as an important cease on the highway to the iPhone.
John Sculley leaves Apple
A couple of issues led to Sculley’s departure. He wished to maneuver again to the East Coast, and thought of taking the position of CEO at IBM. He was additionally closely concerned in politics, supporting Invoice Clinton’s presidential marketing campaign. From the attitude of Apple’s board, he was too concerned with the Newton, at a time when Apple was dealing with elevated competitors from rivals.
After Sculley stepped down, the Apple CEO position was handed over to Michael Spindler, previously the corporate’s COO. Sculley remained Apple chairman till October 1993, departing with a golden parachute of round $10 million. He went on to hitch Spectrum as chairman and CEO.
P.S. Need extra on this era of Apple historical past? Take a look at my 2016 interview with John Sculley for Cult of Mac.
