The Second Coming of Steve Jobs - Alan Deutschman [103]
Michael Murdock read that Apple was looking for a new CEO, since Steve Jobs was supposedly serving only as the interim CEO. So Michael sent e-mail to Steve saying that he was interested in the position. He sent messages to many of Apple’s luminaries setting forth his ideas for saving the company. The San Jose Mercury News wrote about his quest, and famous people began offering him encouragement. While shopping at Fry’s Electronics he ran into Jean-Louis Gassée, the former Apple executive, who said some kind words to him. He sent e-mail to Apple’s cofounder Steve Wozniak, who invited him to lunch. They drove around Los Gatos in Woz’s Hummer and went out for hamburgers.
Woz’s support made Michael very happy. He didn’t really believe that he would become Apple’s CEO, but he thought that people were taking his ideas seriously.
On December 8, Steve Jobs sent him an e-mail:
“Mike, Please go away. Steve.”
Michael respected Steve’s wishes and stopped plying him with suggestions. But then, two weeks later, Michael received an e-mail from Apple board member Larry Ellison.
“OK. You can have the job. Larry.”
A few minutes later he received an e-mail from Steve Jobs: “Yep, Mike, it’s all yours. When can you start? Steve.”
“Wow!! Really??? Cool!” Michael replied to the two men. He added: “I think we should announce this to the papers right away. That way, they will now [sic] that you are serious and not just trying to dampen somebody’s Christmas spirit.” He asked for an $80,000 salary and a high-speed T-3 Internet connection to his apartment, then concluded: “I can start on Monday . . . Merry Christmas to you and yours.”
Steve responded: “Please do not come to Apple. You will be asked to leave, and if you don’t, you will be arrested.”
Michael sent copies of the messages to the media, which seized upon the story. “APPLE CHIEF EXECUTIVE JOB IS NO JOKING MATTER” ran the headline in the San Francisco Chronicle. “How do billionaires have fun?” the story began. “What does it say about two big shots like Jobs and Ellison that they would have wasted the time . . . plotting together like teenagers to torment a naive soul?”
Longtime Pixar executive Pam Kerwin had known Michael during his years there. She said that when she heard that Steve and Larry had played a prank on the poor guy, she thought: “it must have been a slow day on Mount Olympus. It was right out of Greek mythology. Steve and Larry couldn’t find it in themselves to believe that this guy was sincere. No one could believe that someone could be that earnest and naive. But Michael is one hundred percent genuine. The sad thing is that he never got that the press was making fun of him. He was so innocent of that. It’s unfortunate the Steve didn’t react to him with greater sensitivity. Mike is the kind of Apple religious zealot who made the company. He was just totally passionate about it. Mike was emotionally committed to Apple, and it was only because Steve brought that same brand of dedication to Apple that people were able to trust him and let him advance his program. If people didn’t love and blindly respect Apple and Steve Jobs, as Michael Murdock did, it wouldn’t have happened. That’s why Sculley and Amelio couldn’t do it.”
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ON JANUARY 6, 1998, Steve went to San Francisco for his keynote address at Macworld. He stalked onto the stage in a leather jacket and blue jeans, then he tore off the jacket and handed it to an assistant. It seemed as though he had just rode up on a motorcycle. Actually, the effect was calculated for theatrical value. Backstage before the speech, he had to take off the jacket to be