October 4, 1995: Sell Apple, Even If It Means Smashing It to Pieces

In 1994 Apple CFO Joseph Graziano told Business Week, "We don't have any room for error in any respect."

A year later, the PoweerBook 5300 fiasco was in full swing. Joseph Graziano had seen enough, he blamed Michael Spindler and thought Apple was going nowhere fast.

Graziano spoke his mind at an Apple board meeting. He urged the board to sell the company as soon as possible or, short of that, break the company into hardware and software units: the only way Apple would be worth anything in Graziano's estimation.

The board backed Spindler's plan of indeciveness and Graziano resigned saying the board was "sitting there with their thumb up their asses." Graziano confronted the board this week in 1995.