Founding Apple document sells for $1.6 million

Dec 14, 2011
Image courtesy of Sotheby's in New York shows the original Apple partnership agreement, signed by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ron Wayne on April 1st, 1979 with an amendment dissolving Ron Wayne's share on April 12, 1976 also signed by the above. The founding papers setting up Apple Computers sold in New York for just under $1.6 million, ten times the maximum amount that had been expected.

The founding papers setting up Apple Computers sold Tuesday in New York for just under $1.6 million, ten times the maximum amount that had been expected by Sotheby's auctioneers.

"The 1976 document, which once belonged to Ronald G. Wayne, one of Apple's founders along with Steven P. Jobs and Stephen G. Wozniak, is the first chapter in the story of one of America's most important companies," Sotheby's said.

It sold for $1,594,500. Pre-auction estimates by Sotheby's ranged from $100-150,000.

The buyer was Eduardo Cisneros, of Miami-based Cisneros Corporation.

The Apple contract was signed by the three founders on April 1, 1976. The contract and the agreement documenting Wayne's withdrawal from the company 11 days later for just $800, was offered as a single lot.

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