Steve Jobs
Letter from 1986 is on the market for just under $100,000
Steve Jobs died of complications from cancer in 2011.
© Anton_Ivanov/Shutterstock.com
A letter from Apple founder Steve Jobs from 1986 is for sale – it could change hands for a cool $95,000.
With the Mac he revolutionized the computer world, with the invention of the iPhone he fueled the smartphone revolution and with the iPad he made tablets a mass product. Without question: Apple founder Steve Jobs (1955-2011) is still considered one of the most famous personalities in the computer industry and had an influence like no other on the technology of our modern world. The sale of various memorabilia with his signature shows how great the interest in Steve Jobs still is today.
$95,000 for letter with Steve Jobs’ signature
Almost 50 years after Apple was founded and 13 years after Jobs’ death the sales platform “momentsintime.com” currently has a letter from Jobs from 1986 available for purchase. In it, Jobs offers a woman named Caroline Rose a job at his tech company NeXT, which he founded that same year and was acquired by Apple ten years later. The piece of Silicon Valley history is expected to change hands for a whopping $95,000.
In the letter, Steve Jobs offers his potential new employee an annual salary of $50,000 and informs her: “If you are as good as you said you would be (and as we expect you to be), your salary will be at least $60,000 by February 1987 dollars and rise to $65,000 by August 1987.” Not a bad deal: In 1986, the average US salary for women was $16,230 and for men it was $25,260.
Jobs also offered Rose “a great benefits plan” and the opportunity to purchase 1,250 shares of stock in the Palo Alto-based company for $625. These would be worth well over $200,000 today.
Caroline Rose, who had worked at Apple since 1982, signed the letter with the words: “I accept this incredibly great offer!”. At NeXT she eventually worked as head of the publications department. In 1991 she returned to Apple, where she headed an editorial team. She has been working as a freelance technical editor since the late 1990s.
Pieces with Steve Jobs’ signature have sold for six-figure sums
At the end of March, other Steve Jobs memorabilia was offered for sale at equally high prices. A business card with an old Apple logo from 1983 found a new owner for around $180,000, while a cash check from 1976, the year Apple was officially founded, fetched $176,000. Also sold was a stub of a “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie ticket for $14,000 and a $200 phone bill for Jobs’ Palo Alto garage for $66,999.