In an October 1997 interview with CNBC, Apple CEO Steve Jobs spoke passionately about returning to the company he founded.
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00:00 we don’t predict their financials yeah I 00:02 think that there’s a lot of things 00:03 changing to Apple right now and some are 00:07 gonna show up in the financials 00:08 positively some are gonna show up in the 00:09 financials negatively and I think that 00:12 we’re gonna get to a new trend but that 00:14 new trend will not become evident for 00:16 another quarter so so I really don’t 00:19 think it helps to predict right now I 00:21 think we have a very clear target on 00:23 where we’re going in that regards and we 00:24 think profitability is very very 00:26 important what I said was that we 00:28 examined the the future product roadmap 00:30 not the products that are shipping today 00:31 the future ones that we were working on 00:33 and what we found was that 30% of them 00:35 were incredibly good and about 70% of 00:38 them were either pretty good or things 00:41 that we didn’t really need to be doing 00:42 businesses we really didn’t need to be 00:44 in and so we’ve paired a lot of that 00:46 back so we could focus the same amount 00:48 of original resource even more on what 00:52 was remaining and adds a few new things 00:54 in so the resources that we’re investing 00:57 are equal or greater than we have been 00:59 but it’s on fewer things so we’re gonna 01:02 do a better job at the moment there are 01:03 not going to be any corporate massive 01:06 layoffs what we’re doing is we have I 01:09 think a pretty clear direction now and 01:11 each group is looking at the work plans 01:14 to do what they need to do to accomplish 01:16 that the pieces of that that they have 01:18 to do and we are reorganizing some 01:21 things a little bit differently 01:21 combining things in a few different ways 01:23 and in some cases when the music stops 01:25 there’ll be some people that don’t have 01:26 a chair but that’ll be on a department 01:29 by department basis it’ll be you know a 01:30 fairly low-key thing we’re not talking 01:32 about any massive layoffs well like you 01:34 know again we don’t predict but what I 01:36 will say is two things number one apples 01:39 trading at around 1/3 times its sales 01:41 right now many of Apple’s competitors 01:44 are trading at 2 to 5 times their sales 01:46 so that’s just one observation you can 01:48 draw whatever conclusions you want and 01:50 the second thing I would say is that 01:52 somebody taught me a long time ago a 01:54 very valuable lesson which is if you do 01:57 the right things on the top line the 01:59 bottom line will follow and what they 02:01 meant by that was if you get the right 02:03 strategy if you have the right people 02:05 and if you have the right whole trick 02:07 culture at your company you’ll do the 02:10 right products you’ll do the right 02:11 marketing you’ll do the right 02:13 logistically in a manufacturing and 02:14 distribution and if you do all those 02:16 things right 02:17 the bottom line will follow so yes we 02:20 have obviously plans about where we’d 02:23 like to see the bottom line but we are 02:25 focusing most of our energy not on 02:27 financial reengineering because that’s 02:29 not what’s been been troubled at Apple 02:31 we’re focusing our energy on the right 02:33 product strategies the right market 02:35 strategies the right communication 02:36 strategies the right logistics and 02:38 distribution strategies and we the team 02:40 is making I think very strong strides in 02:43 these areas and you’ll start to see some 02:44 of the stuff appear in the next 90 02:46 hundred twenty days so I’m actually 02:49 really happy about this I sold my stock 02:51 before I got the call from the board 02:53 that they wanted me to come in and 02:55 Shepherd Apple for this this period and 02:58 that was unfortunate I wish to call it 03:00 come a week earlier but I wasn’t a mind 03:02 reader so I didn’t know and in terms of 03:05 my own you know personal financial stuff 03:07 I usually don’t discuss that with people 03:08 except my family I’m working pretty hard 03:11 and so there are a lot of people but I’m 03:14 one of them my cars they’re pretty early 03:16 and it’s in the parking lot pretty late 03:18 and on weekends so and I value my family 03:24 time a lot so I I’m pretty committed to 03:27 this and seeing Apple turn around the 03:30 company I mean it’s I started the 03:32 company with Steve Wozniak in my 03:33 parent’s garage you know 20 years ago 03:35 and over 22 years ago and so there’s a 03:39 definite place in my heart for this I’m 03:42 drawing a salary if I think $1 per year 03:45 so I hope I’m not burdening the 03:48 shareholders too much and and I’m I very 03:52 much want to see Apple get turned around 03:54 and I think it’s gonna so I don’t know 03:56 how much more committed I could be if 03:57 people need these symbols well maybe 04:00 that’ll happen I don’t know but but you 04:03 know my answer to them is I don’t know 04:04 how I could be working any harder and we 04:07 are starting to make some changes in the 04:08 channel we are starting to to talk to 04:10 our major channel partners and see who’s 04:12 going to really make a big recommitment 04:14 to Apple who’s going to put an 04:15 investment in to really make sure that 04:17 the buying experience is so much better 04:19 than it has been and again I’m 04:21 incredibly pleased with the results 04:23 we’re getting the key 04:25 partners are coming back saying you know 04:27 I believe in you guys what you’ve shown 04:29 me I’m incredibly excited about it and I 04:32 want to clean up this retail experience 04:34 for the customer it’s going pretty well 04:35 I mean these things are never never 04:37 happened overnight but we’ve had more 04:39 people of very high quality be 04:41 interested than than I expected 04:43 and the board do you think the board 04:46 agrees on what’s right for Apple or are 04:49 you still in the getting to know me and 04:51 each other as well you know you’re 04:53 talking about a very talented group of 04:54 people on this board I mean several CEOs 04:56 very opinionated which is great but you 04:59 know great people when they have 05:00 different opinions they they they 05:03 usually can convince each other that one 05:05 of them is right or pick one that’s 05:06 better than all of them within a very 05:08 short period of time so this this is a 05:10 group of people that is quite talented 05:12 and you’ve got a lot of CEOs I mean 05:14 Larry Ellison’s CEO the second largest 05:15 software company in the world Bill 05:16 Campbell CEO of Intuit one of the 05:18 largest consumer software companies in 05:19 the world Ed Willard former CEO of 05:22 DuPont you’ve got a lot of very 05:24 high-powered people on this board Jerry 05:25 York you know the the CFO of both 05:28 Chrysler and IBM during its turnaround 05:30 so there’s some very very strong people 05:32 on this board you guys I think they have 05:35 really gelled which is nice 05:37 what’s the I’ve noticed something in my 05:38 life which is the people that are really 05:40 good never worry about things like that 05:43 the people that are really good want to 05:46 work with the best people they can find 05:48 hopefully people that are even better 05:50 than them you know I mean that’s my view 05:53 of things as if if you work with people 05:55 that aren’t as good as you then you know 05:57 you become a country of midgets if you 05:59 work with people that are better than 06:00 you then you really grow so I guess what 06:06 can I say if the CEO you find you’ve got 06:10 a great deal the great person ready to 06:13 close the deal and he says or she says 06:16 you know what Steve I just I want your 06:20 advice I don’t want you on the board no 06:22 you go oh sure I’ve told the board I 06:24 that was a problem I would the reason 06:27 that we recruited such a strong board so 06:33 that we have a strong boy 06:34 and this strong board is going to do the 06:37 right thing for Apple they’re not going 06:40 to do the right thing for themselves 06:41 they’re not going to do the right thing 06:43 from me they’re not going to do the 06:44 right thing for some new candidate they 06:46 want to lure away they’re gonna do the 06:48 right thing for Apple and whatever that 06:50 is I support that a thousand percent and 06:52 every board member supports that a 06:54 thousand percent so you know that’s why 06:57 we recruited such good people I mean 06:58 these are not these are not you know old 07:03 crony friends of one person or another 07:05 these are very independent very talented 07:08 people and they’re gonna do the right 07:10 thing for this company well I think you 07:12 know I actually don’t look at it as a 07:13 deal I look at it as an event that was 07:17 the beginning of putting the 07:18 relationship between the two companies 07:20 back on track again Apple and Microsoft 07:22 together owned a hundred percent of the 07:25 desktop computer market and it was crazy 07:27 that these companies weren’t working 07:29 together now again they’re not gonna see 07:31 everything the same way we’re very 07:32 different than Microsoft so we’re not 07:34 weird a lot of things we’re gonna see 07:35 things differently but that doesn’t mean 07:37 that there aren’t a lot of things where 07:38 we can see things the same and work 07:40 together for things that are good for 07:41 the customer and where we both can make 07:43 money so what we’ve tried to do is 07:46 normalize the relationship with 07:47 Microsoft so that we can be very 07:49 different but still do business together 07:51 and do things that are right for the 07:52 customers and I think that were the the 07:54 relationship had been so polarized that 07:56 that wasn’t taking place since that 07:58 event we’ve started a lot of things with 08:00 Microsoft that I think will be really 08:02 good for customers you know clearly 08:03 putting the relationship back together 08:05 was Bill and Steve because bill and I go 08:08 way back and as you know when I was at 08:11 Apple there was not a hostile 08:12 relationship between the two companies 08:14 as a matter of fact Macintosh was the 08:16 first platform that brought Microsoft 08:17 into the applications business so my 08:21 feeling is is that you know Bill and 08:23 Steve have have ignited a relationship 08:25 but now it is it has really permeated 08:27 fairly far in the organization’s and 08:29 there’s a lot of stuff going on 08:30 we still see things very differently in 08:32 some ways and so don’t expect us to 08:34 become like Microsoft and don’t expect 08:36 Microsoft to become like us but there’s 08:38 a lot of things we can be doing together 08:39 nonetheless as the two people that 08:42 really are responsible for the desktop 08:44 computer industry I think this I I think 08:47 the situation it becomes 08:48 polarized that I wasn’t that surprised 08:51 emotionally I was little surprised but 08:53 intellectually I wasn’t but you know it 08:56 takes people a little time to get used 08:57 to new things and and what we have to do 09:00 is is to change Apple in those ways that 09:02 makes sense and to vigorously not change 09:05 Apple in those ways that that Apple is 09:08 great so I think that you know you’re 09:11 gonna see some of each you’re gonna see 09:12 Apple remaining absolutely recommit it 09:15 to its values you know and you’re gonna 09:18 see Apple change and some things that it 09:19 just either are outdated or haven’t 09:22 worked or don’t make sense anymore to 09:23 the customers did it hurt 09:25 what’s that did it hurt to have your 09:28 people the people who you know love you 09:30 boo you like that is C huh I didn’t know 09:34 this was people People magazine no well 09:38 this is this is there is well I and I’d 09:44 like you you brought it up yourself you 09:47 said emotion you know emotionally you 09:49 know different you know I mean I I don’t 09:51 feel my job is to win a popularity 09:52 contest right now you know I feel my job 09:56 is to help the team at Apple do the 09:58 right things to turn this company around 10:00 so that it can really prosper again and 10:02 and I think that’s gonna happen and if 10:04 something you know some people I mean 10:05 the markets we’re talking markets now 10:07 that are so large that there’s you know 10:09 someone or some group of people that 10:10 aren’t gonna like just about anything we 10:12 do but my job’s not to win a popularity 10:14 contest but I think it’s what Apple 10:16 stands for you know it’s it’s a very 10:19 rare thing in this world when a company 10:22 can really bring sort of the right and a 10:24 left brain together and say we’re about 10:26 doing you know the right things to make 10:28 money in a successful business but we 10:30 also have the passion and the creativity 10:33 and the inventiveness to push this 10:35 industry forward and to work with our 10:37 customers to take these tools in in ways 10:40 they’ve never been before to help them 10:41 go change the world and Apple has a 10:43 history a track record of doing just 10:45 that and I think that that’s that’s got 10:48 a place in people’s hearts and I think 10:49 Apple still has a lot of that and we’re 10:52 gonna get rid of a lot of the bramble in 10:53 the brush around that so that that can 10:55 shine again no I think Apple has 10:57 delivered some pretty good stuff I think 11:00 Apple is going to get back to deliver 11:02 some great stuff life is long but as far 11:04 as we see we really like the powerpc we 11:06 think they’re an incredibly wonderful 11:08 place in the curve right now the PowerPC 11:12 chips are really outperforming the Intel 11:14 chips and we really like what’s coming 11:16 down the pike there so who knows what 11:18 the future will bring but we’re 11:19 extremely happy with the PowerPC working 11:21 very closely with IBM Motorola
