Steve Jobs Ranked 43rd on Forbes 400 List of Richest Americans

[MorphingDragon]

there is medicine to treat/prolong life of those infected with HIV/AIDS.

we are comparing an iPod/tech product to medical research affecting the lives of millions of people worldwide....give your argument a rest. Go to Africa and see if they give a crap about Xerox, blah blah networking.

IMO, It's against the Hippocratic Oath to prolong someone's life who is suffering. As you are causing pain and suffering.

Ahh, Gold Ol' Ethics debate.

I'd be more sympathetic to organizations like world vision and the bill trust if they weren't busy lining their pockets with the children's money. (Yes I know quite a few people that stopped working for World Vision, CARE etc because of this reason) If you really want to help, get rid of companies like DeBees and the Warlords that control the money... and the food.

Not to mention that AIDS isn't "incurable" - it's just that we haven't found a cure yet. But there is so much research going on and there's stuff in the news every couple of months about some advance here or there... Maybe the next 10 years? Maybe 20? Who knows? I'm going to go back through this thread and see how AIDS managed to get mentioned here...

Wow, do you even know what AIDS does to the body? It cuts off the Immune system and renders it useless. Its not possible to have an immune system transplant either. Its a collective of organs and glands. Technically its not aids that kill, its the secondary Virii, bacteria and parasites that do.

I don't mean to sound insensitive, its terrible whats happening to 3rd world countries + China. I support the Voice of The Matyrs personally. But the only way to really get things done is have a governing body for "organizations" like World Vision. They must get oodles of US dollars but how much of that actually end up in the children's hands as food ,bandages or medicine?

 

[windywoo]

- which was undeniably a CP/M clone. When Kildall threatened to sue IBM, IBM responded with a proposal to offer CP/M-86 as an option for the PC in return for a release of liability, which Kildall mistakenly accepted. However, when the IBM PC was introduced, IBM sold its OS as an unbundled, but necessary option. One of the OS options was PC-DOS, priced at $40. CP/M-86 shipped a few months later, priced at $240, and sold poorly against PC-DOS. One can only wonder why.

But Gary Kildall has as much to do with his lack of success here as MS. You are just looking for reasons to hate. Isn't that the free market I hear so much talk of on these boards? The one used to defend Apple when they lock down their own OS and products?

Settling out of court is not the same thing as admitting guilt, or even mean there was a high chance of being found guilty. And if the settlement was deemed good enough by Gary Kildall's lawyers who knew the case better than you, don't you feel slightly wretched to be droning about it after so many years?

 

[star-fish]

We see tremendous value for our money. Being premium priced is part of being a premium brand. You may or not may not believe this, but if Apple started matching every POS Dell prices, it would drive Apple's core fanbase away not increase it.

Drive it away to where? Where would all the loyal Apple fanboys and girls get their overpriced equipment from? It's not every company that makes a $79 keyboard that requires tinfoil to make it work you know.

 

[dernhelm]

I agree, that was an awful reply.

Bill Gates has done a lot for Microsoft even since retiring as CEO, just like Steve Jobs virtually revived Apple from the dead in the late 90s. And what both choose to do with their money should really be their business and no one else's.

Right on. Gates wasn't really known for his charity work until after he stepped down as CEO. Since then, his charity work has been unprecedented. Credit him or that. Warren Buffet and others on the list aren't even in the same league. But to slag on Jobs for not doing the same thing neglects the fact that he's still acting CEO of Apple, and very active in Pixar/Disney.

Let's wait until Jobs steps down as CEO before trying to compare what he does to what Bill has already done.

 

[edesignuk]

Gates wasn't really known for his charity work until after he stepped down as CEO. Since then, his charity work has been unprecedented. Credit him or that. Warren Buffet and others on the list aren't even in the same league.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was founded in 1994. They've been doing good work for a long time. Now that he has left MS the media just focus on the foundation more.

Warren Buffet is leaving ~$30bn to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, I'd say that puts him way up the league.

 

[DanielSw]

I couldn't care less about Steve Jobs' net worth

Most posters here have gotten it all wrong. The Jobs they "hate" is a fabrication out of the gossip-fueled collective realities of those that false reality has somehow disappointed.

If anyone cares to know the man himself, listen to his famous Stanford commencement speech. He pretty much sums up his life and motivations in that speech for the benefit of the graduates in attendance.

I admire him as an individual. His dedication to his self-appointed goals, his drive and determination, his leadership skills in forming, guiding, and nurturing Apple Computer into a mulit-billion-dollar company which employs thousands, and the broad array of products which millions (my wife and me included) use, which enhance our own lives; are all laudable accomplishments, which can and do serve as good examples for others to emulate.

I also admire his creativity, assuming the profound influence he has in the design of Apple, Inc.'s products. I've used Apple products to make my living since the early '80s. I appreciate very much the Apple brand on those products and the qualities which that has come to stand for after more than two decades. Apple products, out of my own choice to keep buying them over those years, have enabled me to do what I want to do in making my own products.

Just as I'm not concerned with ephemeral aspects such as "net worth", neither am I concerned with "perfection", as such, except to use it as a point of comparison for evaluating "quality." How good does a product have to be? As an artist, it's: "quality adequate to elicit an emotional response."

Steve Jobs is an artist in that right, as Apple's products have generally elicited my own emotional responses over the years, but no more than in recent years as they get especially good with their ingenuity, beautiful industrial design, and their enabling power for me to enhance my abilities in realizing my own artistic accomplishments.

 

[EagerDragon]

Bill Gates is 100 times a better person that Steve Jobs. His charity work is immense and Steve Jobs has done little of value in comparison.

You can not buy your way into heaven, even if you and Bill Gates have been hearing otherwise.

If he was such a great guy, he would give 40 Billion to charity and live on just 10 for the rest of his life.

Giving away .0001% of you money is nothing, besides there is other people contributing to those funds.

Is not being nice, it is a writeoff on the tax sheet.

 

[opeter]

Bill Gates is a thief and a liar. Taking money he stole and giving it to other people does not make him a better person.

Steve Jobs has made millions of peoples's lives easier while Bill Gates is responsible for trillions of dollars of lost productivity in the business world.

Steve Jobs has made millions of people happy, while Bill Gates has driven more people to nervous breakdowns, alcoholism, drug addiction and suicide than any other single human being.

So, it seems, that Robin Hood was a thief too, right?

 

[edesignuk]

It astounds me how people can be so bitter, hateful and critical of a man that dedicates his time, efforts, vast sums of money, and considerable talents to charity.

Business is business. Any business the size of MS will have, and will continue to do things people and even regulators aren't too happy about. This is capitalism, love it or hate it.

The point is surely what people do with their conceivably ill-gotten gains, and Bill Gates does great work through what has to be the most well funded charitable foundation ever conceived.

 

[Hypocrite]

Ridiculous

Why are we debating over how much and in what way someone donates their money to charity or its JUST this and JUST that. I see 35 billion as more than enough money to donate probably more than you can ever achieve or give in a life time. So Lets move on this silly argument leading to non relevant posts and smudge insults

 

[Hypocrite]

If he was such a great guy, he would give 40 Billion to charity and live on just 10 for the rest of his life.

Giving away .0001% of you money is nothing, besides there is other people contributing to those funds.

Is not being nice, it is a writeoff on the tax sheet.[/QUOTE]

How much money have you given to charity I hope a considerable percentage of your income if your saying that.... You people must have no idea of the worth of money. Probably spoiled little children who are given exactly what they want and come on post bashing honorable men because they know they could never get to that point. I mean are you kidding me? Same question could apply to Steve Jobs why doesn't he give 4 billion I don't see him giving any kind of percentage of his income to charity?

 

[jonnysods]

Bill Gates is a nothing and never was. He and Microsoft have never actually designed or written a piece of software themselves. Even back in the original days they bought DOS from someone else, and have continued to buy out or steal software from other companies to this day. They sole claim to fame is being in the right place at the right time ... and we're still suffering the consequences of those bad decisions by managers who didn't have a clue.

Have you ever heard the story of how Steve Jobs went to Xerox and they showed him the GUI that they had made? That was the right place and right time for Steve.

 

[hindmost]

Good for Apple. Good for Steve. I wouldn't change places with him though.

Sitting on the floor in his mansion with a minimalist outlook and eating weeds and bramble bushes has not served him well.

In a word, he doesn't have much left in the way of 'shelf life'.

 

[thecartoonguy]

You can not buy your way into heaven, even if you and Bill Gates have been hearing otherwise.

If he was such a great guy, he would give 40 Billion to charity and live on just 10 for the rest of his life.

Giving away .0001% of you money is nothing, besides there is other people contributing to those funds.

Is not being nice, it is a writeoff on the tax sheet.

Just amazing. So in your mind, he should give just about everything away. But not doing so it's just a tax write off. So just to be sure, according to your vast wisdom, you always give 90% of your paycheck every time? What he does with his money is not up to you.

 

[125037]

50 billion huh? And yet his company still continues to turn out some of the crappiest software available. M$ is the McDonalds of the computer world, with one exception, their stuff ain't that cheap.

LanPhantom

The only people I recognized on that list were Bill, Michael (Dell), and Steve.

 

[jonnysods]

Bill Gates is a nothing and never was. He and Microsoft have never actually designed or written a piece of software themselves. Even back in the original days they bought DOS from someone else, and have continued to buy out or steal software from other companies to this day. They sole claim to fame is being in the right place at the right time ... and we're still suffering the consequences of those bad decisions by managers who didn't have a clue.

Have you ever heard the story of how Steve Jobs went to Xerox and they showed him the GUI that they had made? That was the right place and right time for Steve.

 

[thecartoonguy]

wow, no one person needs billions of $.. government should take their money and spread it.. wtf would someone do with $50 billion???

You're kidding right. Why the hell should any government steal money and give it to someone else? it's none of your business what they do with it because THEY WORKED FOR IT!! Get over yourself.

 

[crackbookpro]

I'd rather see Steve up there than a bunch of these other billionaires in the Top 50...

Congrats to SJ! Guy is a proven leader & innovator...

 

[ph0rk]

Oh and good for SJ as he deserves every cent.

While Jobs certainly does possess a lot of charisma, I am not convinced what he does merits his pay - that any CEO type job merits the pay they receive in the US.

American CEOs tend to make 200 times what the baseline worker in their company makes, by contrast Japanese CEOs make about 10 times what the baseline worker in their company makes.

Are Japanese companies headed by incompetent CEOs? Then why are American CEOs paid so much, what purpose does it serve?

 

[iOrlando]

how much you think Woz is worth?

 

[freediverdude]

Well I realize this is just my opinion, but I admire what Steve is doing much more than what Bill Gates is doing.

Steve is actually actively working to enhance the world that we live in via all these new products. Let's face it, products like the iPod and the iPhone have changed many people's worlds, and will go down in the history books. And he's still at it, working on whatever the next big innovation will be.

Bill Gates, just sitting there giving money away, will largely be forgotten, other than being known as a world record philanthropist. There will always be charity money to give away. What will be remembered is how certain people actually innovated and improved civilization.

Like that line that Steve used to hire that executive from Pepsi? Coca-cola? Something along the lines of, "You can sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or you can come with me and change the world."

There are very few people in this world who are in a position to be able to change the world, and have the drive and vision to really do it, all in one package. Steve Jobs is one of those people. Walt Disney was another. Henry Ford also comes to mind.

 

[JangoFett124]

Well I realize this is just my opinion, but I admire what Steve is doing much more than what Bill Gates is doing.

Steve is actually actively working to enhance the world that we live in via all these new products. Let's face it, products like the iPod and the iPhone have changed many people's worlds, and will go down in the history books. And he's still at it, working on whatever the next big innovation will be.

Bill Gates, just sitting there giving money away, will largely be forgotten, other than being known as a world record philanthropist. There will always be charity money to give away. What will be remembered is how certain people actually innovated and improved civilization.

Like that line that Steve used to hire that executive from Pepsi? Coca-cola? Something along the lines of, "You can sell sugar water for the rest of your life, or you can come with me and change the world."

There are very few people in this world who are in a position to be able to change the world, and have the drive and vision to really do it, all in one package. Steve Jobs is one of those people. Walt Disney was another. Henry Ford also comes to mind.

Seriously? Setting up a huge charitable charity and actively working to rid the world of disease and suffering will be forgotten, but helping to make a better MP3 player makes you a hero?

Both Microsoft and Apple have done a ton for the industry (regardless of whose products you prefer, which for all of us is Apple), but come on...

 

[zachplaysguitar]

I find it hilarious when you guys actually use the "Snow leopard is $30 and W7 is $200" argument, since it isn't a secret that Apple computers are way more expensive than their PC counterparts.

These are two separate products though.. yes Mac's are overpriced but that's an hardware price comparison; Microsoft does not make computers so only the prices of the OS's can be compared.

 

[VenusianSky]

These are two separate products though.. yes Mac's are overpriced but that's an hardware price comparison; Microsoft does not make computers so only the prices of the OS's can be compared.

How much is Mac OS X if you are building a Mac computer from scratch or as an OEM?

 

[gnasher729]

Sorry, no. Apple is worth a buttload more than 5 billion. That is what Steve's stock portfolio, house , car, etc is worth. There is no company bearing his name. Same goes with Bill Gates for that matter.

And of Steve Jobs' $5.1bn, most comes from his 10 million dollar investment in Pixar, which he then swapped for shares in Disney (Steve Jobs is the largest individual shareholder in Disney).