John Sculley on How Steve Jobs Got Fired From Apple (1985)

The story behind Jobs’ 1985 departure is, by now, well-known. After losing a boardroom battle with John Sculley - a CEO Jobs helped recruit from Pepsi a couple years earlier - Jobs decided to leave Apple, feeling forced out of the company he helped start.

After weeks of rumors that Jobs would quit and set up his own rival company - prompted by a flurry of sales of his AAPL stock holdings, totaling $21.43 million - he officially departed on September 16, 1985. He took with him a number of Apple employees, with whom he worked to start NeXT Inc., Jobs’ follow-up computer company.

NeXT never became the success he hoped it would be. And in some ways, the company showcased the worst aspects of Jobs perfectionist, “feature creep” tendencies. However, NeXT occupied an immensely important period in his life, letting him hone his abilities as a CEO.

Also during this period, he became a billionaire, due to a canny investment in Pixar Animation Studios. Jobs won big by buying into the struggling George Lucas startup (yes, that George Lucas), which had yet to release its first feature-length film.