December 2, 1996: Steve Pitches NeXT

Things weren't going well at Steve's main job, running and owning NeXT Computer. He had hoped to take the company public but with a grand total of $1 million in profits over the life of the company (11 years) that was a dubious proposition. Fate intervened and Steve saw an opportunity to make a tidy sum by selling NeXT to a seemingly unlikely suitor: Apple Computer.

Apple was in desperate need of a modern OS and Ellen Hancock was fond of UNIX derived ones. After some initial meetings between Apple and NeXT employees, the idea seemed workable, so Steve returned to the Apple campus to make his pitch.

Steve Jobs returned to the Apple offices and apparently said all the right things in a meeting with Dr. Amelio, Ellen Hancock and Douglas Solomon on December 2, 1996.