I personally know of someone who lost a $1.6 million winning dollar lottery ticket and trust me, he feels totally crummy over it even after ten years passing.
$1.6 million is a lot of money to lose baby, but how would you feel if you realized that you lost approximately 25,000 times that much?
I don't know about you, but I would feel a little bummed out, no.... make that immensely bummed out just thinking of all of the goodies that I could have bought with that kind of dough, you know? Things like this simple little shack in Bel Aire.
Well, just imagine how Apple's little known third founder, Ron Wayne, must be feeling right now, because that's just about what he be worth if it wasn't for one simple little decision of his.... he sold all of his 10% of original Apple stock. Today, he's anything but a rich man, but he easily could have been one of the world's richest men and right up there with the likes of Larry Ellison, Bill Gates, Carlos Slims, and interestingly enough, even richer than Steve Jobs is now!
Unfortunately, Ron Wayne not only sold his 10% stake in Apple, but he sold it for a measly $800! That's barely enough to buy one of Apple's new MacBook Airs! Of course, at the time. his decision seemed reasonable. He said it was because he was afraid that he would just end up being a paper pusher for the rest of his life, and afraid that he would lose the money that he had already invested into Apple. After all, he was already hurting over another investment that previously went bad just before he was given the opportunity of a lifetime with Apple.
BloomBerg TV, talking about Steve Jobs resignation, did an exclusive interview with Mr. Wayne and Steve Wozniak that you can view here, in which, according to Mr. Wayne, he says that he doesn't regret his decision or the fortune that he eventually lost out on, but somehow, to be honest, I can't possibly take him all that seriously. Sure, I agree that crying over spilled milk wont' help, but seriously.... this is $35 billion dollars that we're talking about here! Man, if I had that kind of cash I'd be living in Germany right now, while owning additional homes just like the humble little Bel Aire shack in the above video, the world over, and in places like in Monaco, Paris, London and eleswhere.
Oh, and think of the private jets you could buy to whiz you to them where ever they were, and all of the beautiful Deutcherin, and all of the celebrities that you would have eating out of your back pocket so to speak?
Boy, oh boy, Mr. Wayne, you seem like a nice guy and all, but I'm pretty dang-tooting sure that I wouldn't want to be in your shoes. Just the thought of trading in $800 of stock that would have now grown to make me one of the world's richest men, and enough to make me a millionaire over 35,000 times over would be just a little too much for this poor boy to take, and frankly, your a much better man than I am Mr. Wayne if the thought of losing out on one of the world's greatest fortunes truly doesn't bother you!
In conclusion, we certainly all make little mistakes in life, but not many of us will ever have the opportunity to make a little mistake quite as big as Ron Wayne did, so I wish you all the best of luck in the future Mr. Wayne, because even though your a great guy, thanks to your little mistake your now also just like me, a poor man too.
And that's my 2 cents 4 this sunny, the day-after-I-survived-hurricane Irene, Monday, August 19, 2011
2 comments:
Seems like he would have chickened out when it hits one million or something like that anyway.
Same with me. I had Apple at $18 and sold it a little later at a small gain.
PS, When clicking on comment it launches invasive ads. Not good.
Thanks Obama. At least you got a small return on your Apple stock, poor Mr. Wayne did not, but he probably got a lot of, "... if only I'd..." moments.
AS for the invasive ads, well that's beyond my control. It's one way of Bloomberg making more money, I guess?
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