Michael "Scotty" Scott (born February 11, 1945) is an American
entrepreneur, who was the first CEO of
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...
from February 1977 to March 1981. Formerly director of manufacturing at
National Semiconductor, Scott was persuaded by
Mike Markkula to take the CEO position at Apple, as the co-founders —
Steve Jobs and
Steve Wozniak — were both seen as insufficiently experienced for the job at the time.
Career
After graduating from the
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
, Scott worked at
Fairchild Semiconductor where he shared a cubicle with
Mike Markkula and Gene Carter; all 3 would later end up working together at Apple.
Apple
Attempting to set an example for all businesses, in 1979, Scott declared there would be no typewriters at Apple. In 1979 and 1980,
Jef Raskin
Jef Raskin (born Jeff Raskin; March 9, 1943 – February 26, 2005) was an American human–computer interface expert best known for conceiving and starting the Macintosh project at Apple in the late 1970s.
Early life and education
Jef Raskin ...
's
Macintosh project was a four-person
research effort. It wasn't considered important within Apple and was almost canceled a couple of times. When Apple had another major reorganization in the fall of 1980, it was terminated again, but Raskin pleaded with Scott and Markkula for more time and was granted three more months to show that he was really onto something.
On February 25, 1981, the day known as "Black Wednesday" at the company, Scott personally fired forty Apple employees, including half of the
Apple II
The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-mol ...
team, in a belief that they were redundant. Later in the afternoon he assembled the remaining employees with a keg of beer and explained the firings by stating, "I used to say that when being CEO at Apple wasn't fun anymore, I'd quit. But now I've changed my mind — when it isn't fun any more, I'll fire people until it's fun again."
Following this abrupt event, he was moved to vice chairman, a title with little power, and Mike Markkula, the man who had hired Scott, replaced him.
Scott left Apple officially on July 10, 1981, stating in his resignation letter:
Later career
From 1983 to 1988, Scott led
Starstruck, a private firm that attempted to create a sea-based
satellite-launching rocket. He also began supporting non-profit organizations, such as the
Seattle Opera and the
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
in their efforts to apply personal computers to their needs.
Gemstone expert
Scott has since become an expert on colored
gemstones, having written a book on them and assembled a collection that has been exhibited at the
Bowers Museum
The Bowers Museum is an art museum located in Santa Ana, California. The museum's permanent collection includes more than 100,000 objects, and features notable strengths in the areas of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, Native American art, the art of A ...
in
Santa Ana, California. He also sponsored Rruff, a project creating a complete set of high-quality spectral data from well-characterized minerals. The mineral rruffite (IMA 2009-077) was named for the Rruff project and the mineral
scottyite
Scottyite is a barium copper silicate. It was named for Michael Scott, first CEO of Apple. Its type locality is the Wessels mine, Northern Cape, South Africa, where it was first identified. It has also been found at several localities in the R ...
(IMA 2012-027) for Michael Scott.
Sources
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Michael
1943 births
Living people
Apple Inc. executives
American business executives
Directors of Apple Inc.