Armas Clifford Markkula, Jr. was born on February 11, 1942 in Los Angeles, California, United States of America. Mike became an affluent individual in part by providing capital for the Apple Computer, Inc. business start-up in exchange for getting the second CEO position of the company. He invested $250,000 into the company. Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs, together with the funding and guidance of Mike Markkula, incorporated Apple Computer as a company in 1977. Mike Markkula was the key figure in the history of Apple Computer, Inc from 1981 to 1983. Michael Scott was the first CEO of the company, and John Sculley succeeded the position after Mike.
So just how rich is Mike Markkula? Under the latest estimations, sources report that the overall sum of Mike Markkula’s net worth is as high as $1.2 billion, earned from being a successful entrepreneur and in particular a shrewd investor.
Mike Markkula Net Worth $1.2 Billion
Make Markkula is of Finnish origin through his great-grandfather was from Finland, and as evidenced by his Finnish names. Mark graduated from the University of Southern California with Bachelor and Master’s of Science degrees both in electrical engineering. Intel and Fairchild Semiconductor were companies where Markkula earned millions on stock options and was able to retire being just 32 years old, but was persuaded to support Wozniak and Jobs in developing Apple. In addition to being an angel investor of Apple Computer, Inc., Mike Markkula was also a technical engineer. He was the author of Apple II and Apple III programs. What is more, Markkula worked as a beta tester with the software and hardware of Apple. In 1996, when Jobs came back to the position of interim CEO Mark retired from the Apple Computer, Inc. Mike also invested in such companies as Crowd Technologies and Scotland-based RunRev.
Having such an impressive character Mike Markkula has been portrayed in several feature films. The first one was “Pirates of Silicon Valley” (1999) directed by Martyn Burke, the character of Markkula being created by Jeffrey Nordling. The film shows the contentions between Gates and Jobs, and between Microsoft and Apple. The second feature film in which Mike was portrayed by Dermot Mulroney is “Jobs” (2013), directed by Joshua Michael Stern. The film was based on the true facts of Steve Jobs’ life. What is more, a documentary about the venture capitalists Mike Markkular, Dr. Herbert Boyer, Jimmy Treybig, Gordon Moore, Dick Kramlich, Don Valentine, Tom Perkins, Arthur Rock was created by Daniel Geller, Dayna Goldfine and entitled “Something Ventured” (2011).
Mike Markkula is also a member of the steering committee, and Chairman of the Board of Advisors of Santa Clara University. Moreover, Markkula and his wife have raised funds for the Center for Applied Ethics at this university. He is also a chair of the Board, trustee and regent of the Board of Trustees for the University of Southern California.
Mike Markkula resides in the San Andreas Fault area with his wife Linda. Very little is known about his family life, as Mike keeps this really private and reveals very little information about it.
