17th September 1985
Steve Jobs leaves Apple to start NeXT

After an internal power struggle within Apple, on the 12th September 1985 Steve Jobs told the Apple board of his intention to leave and start a new computer company. Initially, the board were supportive of Jobs' new venture, suggesting they may be willing to provide investment and asking Jobs to defer his resignation for a week.

However, when Jobs later revealed that he would be taking several Apple employees with him, Apple's position became more hostile. On the 17th September 1985 Jobs resigned as Apple chairman. Apple responded by issuing Jobs with a lawsuit.

After leaving Apple, Steve Jobs founded a new company called NeXT, Inc. to develop and manufacture a series of computer workstations intended for the higher-education and business markets. This move was reported in the September 24, 1985 of PC Week magazine under the headline "Apple's Jobs Starts New Firm, Targets Education Market".

The Apple employees who joined Jobs were Joanna Hoffman, Bud Tribble, George Crow, Rich Page, Susan Barnes, Susan Kare, and Dan'l Lewin.

Related information:

• Centre for Computing History: NeXT Computers
• AppleInsider: Looking back at Steve Jobs's NeXT, Inc — the most successful failure ever

Image:

• Steve Jobs introduces the NeXT workstation, October 1988
  Credit: EDN Network, © UBM Canon. Images remain the copyright of the original copyright holder. Used under fair use policy for educational purposes only.

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Apple buys NeXT, and Steve Jobs returns