June 2, 1997: Steve Jobs Sells All His Shares of Apple (Again)

As part of the compensation when Apple purchased NeXT, Steve Jobs received a huge number of Apple shares. Not long after Steve took ownership of the shares, large blocks of Apple shares began to be sold at rock bottom prices ($15 per). Immediately, people suspected Steve Jobs of being the source of the massive share liquidaion.

Jobs refused to confirm the rumors initially but later admitted that he had lost faith in Apple and was unloading the shares as fast as he could. The more conspiratorially minded among us can be forgiven for thinking that the Apple share dumping was a ploy to undermine then-President Gil Amelio and restore Steve to the top slot.

Whatever the motive, underhanded ploy to weaken Amelio or way to generate some spare cash, Steve began dumping Apple shares like they were unsold Lisas this week in 1997.