June 18, 1993: John Sculley steps down as Apple CEO after a 10-year run. The Apple board asks Sculley to go away after AAPL shares collapse from a excessive of $4.33 in 1992 to a measly 73 cents.
Sculley arms over the CEO function to Michael Spindler earlier than briefly taking the function of Apple chairman, previous to departing altogether.
From promoting sugar water to altering the world
John Sculley joined Apple in Could 1983 as its third president and CEO, following Mike Scott and Mike Markkula. He was lured to Apple from PepsiCo by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who used one of the well-known traces in enterprise historical past to recruit him.
“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 rapidly flared between the 2. The end result was that Jobs was compelled out of Apple after trying a boardroom coup in 1985.
John Sculley boosts Apple revenues throughout 10-years as CEO
Regardless of that legacy looming over him, John Sculley discovered preliminary success at Apple. The non-public pc business was rising quickly, and he possessed the enterprise chops to ensure 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 sensible merchandise, such because the enormously profitable PowerBook 100 sequence of laptops.
Sculley additionally oversaw the event of the Apple Newton MessagePad, an ahead-of-its-time cellular gadget that launched later in 1993. The Newton flopped initially, and by no means turned a gross sales juggernaut. Nonetheless, it’s now rightly considered as an important cease on the street to the iPhone.
John Sculley leaves Apple
A couple of issues led to Sculley’s departure from Apple. For one, he needed to maneuver again to the East Coast. (He thought-about taking the function of CEO at IBM.) Sculley additionally turned closely concerned in politics, supporting Invoice Clinton’s presidential marketing campaign within the early Nineteen Nineties.
From the angle of Apple’s board, Sculley appeared too concerned with the Newton at a time when Apple confronted elevated competitors from rivals.
After Sculley stepped down, the Apple CEO function went 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 affix Spectrum as chairman and CEO.
P.S. Need extra on this era of Apple historical past? Try Cult of Mac‘s 2016 interview with the previous Apple CEO: Why John Sculley doesn’t put on an Apple Watch (and regrets booting Steve Jobs).
