Apple leadership

May 23, 1985: Bitter about being ousted from his position running the Macintosh division, Steve Jobs attempts to stage a boardroom coup to seize control of Apple from CEO John Sculley.

The 30-year-old Apple co-founder plans to overthrow Sculley while the CEO is away on a business trip in China. Unfortunately for Jobs, he makes a critical mistake when he tries to recruit the support of Apple executive Jean-Louis Gassée, who informs Sculley of the plot.

It’s the beginning of the end for Jobs’ first tenure at Apple.

May 17, 1983: John Sculley takes the helm as Apple’s third president and CEO. The former Pepsi-Cola boss is short on tech experience but long on marketing, which will become increasingly important as the personal computer revolution ramps up.

Steve Jobs personally lured Sculley to Apple using one of the most famous lines in the history of business. “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water,” Jobs asked Sculley, “or do you want a chance to change the world?”

April 19, 1994: Gaston Bastiaens, the executive in charge of Apple’s revolutionary new Newton MessagePad product line, parts ways with the company.

“We can’t say whether he fell or was pushed,” says an Apple spokesman. Reports suggest that the departing Bastiaens, general manager of Apple’s personal interactive electronics division, is leaving due to his failure to make the Newton a financial success.

April 12, 1976: Apple’s third co-founder, a former Atari colleague of Steve Wozniak’s named Ron Wayne, cashes in his Apple shares for just $800.

Wayne, who owns a 10% stake in the company, throws in the towel after worrying that he doesn’t have the time or energy to properly invest in Apple. He later receives an extra $1,500 check to seal the deal. When he cashes it, he loses out on an investment that could have been worth billions.

“I was 40 and these kids were in their 20s,” Wayne told Cult of Mac decades later, referring to Wozniak and Steve Jobs. “They were whirlwinds — it was like having a tiger by the tail. If I had stayed with Apple I probably would have wound up the richest man in the cemetery.”

April 8, 1983: John Sculley, former president of PepsiCo, takes charge as Apple’s third CEO.

Despite a total lack of experience selling tech products, Sculley is lured to Apple by Steve Jobs himself. The Apple co-founder famously pitched the Pepsi exec with the line, “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?”

An Apple reorganization reportedly brings new management to the team struggling to develop an AI-enhanced version of Siri. Apple apparently tapped Mike Rockwell, an exec with one successful Apple product launch already under his belt, to shepherd the promised Siri upgrade.

Clearly, the goal is to accelerate a project that’s been significantly delayed — and has become a major embarrassment for Apple.

The head of the team developing the promised AI-enhanced Siri had to admit the recent decision to significantly delay the release gave Apple’s reputation a major black eye, according to a report published Friday.

Robby Walker, Apple’s senior director of Siri and information intelligence, reportedly called the delay “ugly” during a recent all-hands meeting with his team. He gave an update on how close Apple is to having the technology ready, but couldn’t promise when it will ship. At present, the “smarter” Siri reportedly still fails to work correctly a significant percentage of the time.

March 4, 2014: Peter Oppenheimer, the Apple chief financial officer who presided over a decade of skyrocketing growth, steps down from the company.

After becoming Apple CFO in 2004, Oppenheimer saw the company’s valuation soar from $8.8 billion to $471 billion. Luca Maestri replaced Oppenheimer in this crucial position.

February 25, 1981: Apple CEO Michael Scott oversees a mass firing of employees, then holds a massive party. The Apple layoffs follow a hiring boom that led to what Scott called a “bozo explosion” at the company. They also stand as an early sign that the fun startup culture of Apple’s early days are gone forever.

“I used to say that when being CEO at Apple wasn’t fun anymore, I’d quit,” he tells a crowd of Apple staffers. “But now I’ve changed my mind — when being CEO isn’t fun anymore, I’ll just fire people until it is fun again.”

For many people at Apple, the day is the worst in company history.

February 7, 1981: Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is involved in a serious plane crash in California, resulting in his first lengthy leave of absence from the company.

At the time, Wozniak is flying a turbocharged, single-engine, six-seat Beechcraft Bonanza A36TC. In the plane with Woz is his fiancé, Candi Clark, her brother and her brother’s girlfriend. Fortunately, nobody dies in the crash, although Woz suffers minor head injuries.

February 2, 1996: Apple reveals that turnaround artist Gil Amelio will take over from Michael “The Diesel” Spindler as CEO of the struggling company.

With disappointing Mac sales, the disastrous “clone Mac” strategy and a failed Sun Microsystems merger to his name, Spindler is asked to resign by the Apple board. Then Cupertino enlists supposed corporate miracle worker Amelio for the job.

Unfortunately, he turns out to be no better than Spindler.

January 29, 1990: Apple CEO John Sculley appoints Michael Spindler as the company’s new chief operating officer.

Nicknamed “The Diesel” on account of his work ethic, Spindler’s new job continues his upward trajectory at Apple. Three years later, he will become CEO.

Apple just appointed seasoned executive Kim Vorrath to spearhead improvements to its artificial intelligence capabilities and Siri virtual assistant, signaling renewed focus on competing with AI leaders like OpenAI and Anthropic, according to a new report Friday.

November 9, 1994: Gil Amelio, a businessman with a reputation as a talented turnaround artist, joins Apple’s board.

Coming off his impressive revitalization of two other tech companies, National Semiconductor and Rockwell International, Amelio’s appointment at Apple sparks widespread celebration. Many Apple watchers think his arrival means the company’s dark days are over. Sadly, Amelio’s turnaround tricks won’t work in Cupertino.

October 29, 2012: Scott Forstall, Apple’s senior vice president of iOS software, is fired from the company after the disastrous Apple Maps launch. After Forstall is ousted, Apple divvies up the roles he previously handled among other high-level execs.

Jony Ive assumes leadership of the Human Interface team. Craig Federighi becomes head of iOS software. Eddy Cue takes control of Maps and Siri. And Bob Mansfield “unretires” to lead a new technology group.

October 15, 1993: John Sculley, the former CEO responsible for forcing Steve Jobs out of Apple, is forced to leave the company himself.

When Sculley resigns as Apple’s chairman, he takes $1 million in severance pay, a one-year consulting fee of $750,000, a commitment from Apple to buy his $4 million mansion and $2 million Lear jet, and $2.4 million in stock options. Total take: around $10 million.

October 14, 2005: Tim Cook takes the reins as Apple’s chief operating officer, continuing an upward climb through the company’s ranks that will make him CEO less than six years later.

“Tim and I have worked together for over seven years now, and I am looking forward to working even more closely with him to help Apple reach some exciting goals during the coming years,” Steve Jobs says in a statement.

October 3, 1994: Apple CEO Michael Spindler reassures the world that Apple “is not a lame-duck company.”

Why would anyone suspect that it is? The answer lies in collapsing Mac sales, massive layoffs and Apple’s $188 million quarterly loss. At 15 months into his stint as CEO, Spindler wants to reassure everyone that the worst is over.

Sadly, things will decline further before they start to turn around.

September 16, 1985 and 1997: Twice on this day, Steve Jobs makes significant moves with regard to his career at Apple. In 1985, he leaves the company he co-founded. Then, a little more than a decade later, he officially returns to Apple as its new interim CEO.

In terms of the emotions associated with those historic occasions, it’s hard to think of two more polarizing days in Jobs’ life.

August 24, 2011: With his health worsening, a cancer-stricken Steve Jobs resigns from his role leading Apple. Tim Cook assumes the role of Apple’s seventh CEO.

“I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know,” Jobs writes in his retirement letter to the Apple board. “Unfortunately that day has come.”

July 8, 1997: Steve Jobs begins his path to becoming chief executive officer of Apple, after former CEO Gil Amelio departs the company following a massive quarterly loss. Also leaving Apple is Ellen Hancock, executive vice president of technology.

To run Apple’s day-to-day operations, CFO Fred Anderson takes over until a new CEO can be found. Jobs, meanwhile, moves from strategic adviser to take “a more expanded role with Apple’s board and executive management team,” according to CNN Money.

Cupertino’s turnaround has started!

July 6, 1997: Following a massive quarterly loss for Apple, board member Edgar S. Woolard Jr. calls CEO Gil Amelio and informs him that he needs to step down. “You’ve done a lot to help the company, but the sales haven’t rebounded,” Woolard says.

Steve Jobs, who recently returned to the company he co-founded, denies being responsible for Amelio’s ouster. However, the move results in Jobs becoming Apple CEO for the first time. Now it’s time for a real turnaround!

DJ Novotney first started at Apple in June 1999, and now he’s been lured away by electric-car-maker Rivian.

Over his two decades  with the company, he helped design many iconic Apple products, including iPod, iPhone, iPad and more.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Tim Cook recently said Apple has “very detailed” succession plans for when he eventually steps down as CEO. Plus, the company definitely plans to hire from within. That got us thinking … who’s next in Apple’s game of thrones?

Also on The CultCast:

• OLED screens might come to iPad Air and iPad mini somewhat soonish.
• Europe’s busybody technocrats have some more grand plans for Apple and other manufacturers. We’ve got mixed emotions.
• Sonos reportedly wants to take on Apple TV and AirPods Max with rival products.

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

Carol Surface is reportedly stepping in as Apple’s new Chief People Officer, the company’s term for head of human resources.

She’s taking over part of the responsibilities of Deirdre O’Brien who was previously both the HR chief and in charge of managing Apple’s retail store business.