On April 1, 1976, three men signed a contract that would go down in technology history.
Signed by Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, and Ronald Wayne, the contract divided ownership of Apple Computer Company among the three, giving Jobs and Wozniak each 45 percent, and Wayne 10 percent.
However, Wayne famously decided to walk away from his 10 percent share 11 days later. He sold his stake on the young company, with all responsibilities taken over by Jobs and Wozniak. In exchange, he would receive $800.
A manuscript dealer purchased the three-page documents from Wayne, and then sold it in the mid-1990s. The owner put the documents up for auction. Along with the original contract, it also included the amendment noting Wayne's withdrawal as a partner in the venture.
The documents were expected to be sold at between $100,000 and $150,000 at Sotheby's Fine Books and Manuscripts auction, held on December 13 in New York. People can also bid on the documents simultaneously online.
Bidding began at $70,000 and ended a few minutes later with a telephone bid of $1.35 million, a number that was significantly higher than estimates.
The winning bidder was Eduardo Cisneros, CEO of Cisneros, according to Sotheby's.
The three-page document marking the founding of Apple, said that
According to Walter Isaacson in his Steve Jobs biography, Jobs signed the document in lower-case letters, Wozniak in careful cursive and Wayne in an illegible squiggle. The three signed the document in Wayne's apartment and split their stakes in the company unevenly.
