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 palms 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 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 vital 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 vary 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 pressured out of Apple after trying a boardroom coup in 1985.
Regardless of that legacy looming over him, Sculley discovered preliminary profitable at Apple. The private 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 machine that launched later in 1993. The Newton flopped initially, and by no means grew to become a gross sales juggernaut. Nevertheless, it’s now rightly considered as an important cease on the street to the iPhone.
John Sculley leaves Apple
A number of issues led to Sculley’s departure. For one, he needed to maneuver again to the East Coast, and regarded taking the position of CEO at IBM. He additionally was closely concerned in politics, supporting Invoice Clinton’s presidential marketing campaign. 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 position 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 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.