Steve was thoroughly fed up with John. He wanted control of his company once again, so he decided to put a coup in motion. After Apple secured the rights to sell personal computers in China, Steve accepted an invitation to travel to Beijing to speak at the Great Hall of the People. He anticipated that John would want to come too and invited John on the trip. Then, once John signed on, Steve bailed, leaving John to travel to Beijing by himself.
With John out of the country, Steve planned to go to the board and convince them to make him the CEO. Upon John’s return, Steve would go to him and triumphantly demand John’s resignation. He could see it all so clearly.
John waited to start the meeting until Steve, who was running late, arrived. It was an ambush—Steve thought John was in China.
When Steve entered the room, John stared at him from across the hardwood table. “It’s come to my attention that you’d like to throw me out of the company,” he said. “And I’d like to ask you if that’s true.”For an intense moment, Steve just glared back at John.
“I think you’re bad for Apple and I think you’re the wrong person to run this company,” Steve replied, heating up. “You really should leave this company. I’m more worried about Apple than I have ever been. I’m afraid of you. You don’t know how to operate and never have.”
“I made a mistake in treating you with high esteem,” John replied, a childhood stammer creeping back into his voice. “I don’t trust you, and I won’t tolerate a lack of trust. If I left, who would run the company?”
“I think I could run the company,” Steve said. “I think I understand the things that need to be done.”“I’d like to go around the room and just ask each of the executive staff members how they feel about what you’ve just said,” John shot back. “Because if they agree with you, it would be very hard for me to run the company.”
One by one, Apple’s six senior leaders in the room voiced their discontent with the quagmire. Four of them again sided with John, while the other two stayed neutral. Then the board made its decision. Though directors had grievances with John’s leadership, their complaints weren’t serious enough to justify firing him at this point. And they still felt that Steve was too immature to be a viable alternative—just as many had warned Steve they would.
Steve flopped his head down on the table. Gone was his bravado. Gone were his typical color and confidence. Gone was his driving spirit. Apple’s visionary sat deflated before his board after being rejected for a second time.
“Well,” he said, voice trembling. “I guess I know where things stand.” Then he stood up and left the room. No one followed.
One week later, on May 31, 1985, Steve was formally exiled to his new role as head of a made-up unit. “They leased a little building across the street from most of the other Apple buildings,” Steve told Newsweek. “I—we—nicknamed it ‘Siberia.’”