For a man who built a trillion-dollar empire and amassed a personal wealth of $US10.2 billion ($A15.4 billion), Steve Jobs’ choice of home was anything but extravagant.
Forget sprawling mega-mansions and billionaire bunkers; the Apple co-founder’s most cherished property was a charming, yet relatively modest, suburban house in Palo Alto, California.
Here’s a closer look into the properties of the tech genius behind the iPhone and the fortune he left behind following his death 14 years ago.
The suburban family home
For the past two decades of his life, Jobs’ main residence was a seven-bedroom English Tudor-style home on Waverley St, Palo Alto.
In a quiet, leafy neighbourhood, this was the home where he raised his three children with wife Laurene Powell Jobs.
It was where he passed away in 2011 at age 56 after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Purchased in 1991, the home was known for being comfortable and tastefully furnished.
According to Businessweek: “Jobs obsessed over the furniture, recalls [ …] a neighbour [ …]. Jobs spent tens of thousands of dollars on chairs and a custom-made dining table — which he returned because the angle of one of the legs was off by a few degrees.
“Jobs frequently visited [the neighbour’s] home during those years, often complaining about the lack of comfortable furniture in his house.”
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Apple co-founder Steve Jobs amassed a personal wealth of $US10.2 billion.
Jobs’ main residence was a seven-bedroom English Tudor-style home in Palo Alto. Picture: Supplied
The mansion he hated
There was one property the tech mogul grew to despise, a sprawling house in Woodside, California.
Known as the Jackling House, the mansion was first built in 1925 by renowned architect George Washington Smith, the New York Post reports.
The home was designed for copper mining magnate Daniel Jackling and the estate represented his aesthetic values and wealth.
The residence was made up of 30 rooms, containing a built-in pipe organ that would become the main focal point of the home.
Smith integrated the abode, which sits on six acres, with landscaped gardens and a large traditional courtyard, including open-air balconies and many indoor-outdoor access connections.
The tech mogul grew to despise, a sprawling house in Woodside, California. Picture: Jonathan Haeber via NY Post
Jobs understood the historical value of the estate, and would come to purchase the home in 1984 for $US3.5 million ($A5.2 million).
But as his mounting success continued, Jobs wanted to demolish what he saw as a complicated home, and build a smaller, minimal home.
Starting in 2000, Jobs stopped maintaining the home to force the city to demolish it. He spent a decade fighting local preservationists and the state Historical Resources Commission to tear down the structure.
Eventually, in May 2009, the Woodside Town Council granted the permit to demolish the home, with the condition that Jobs must allow the house to be disassembled and moved elsewhere. In February 2011, the home would be demolished.
Jobs lost his battle with pancreatic cancer eight months later.
The another surprising way Steve Jobs made billions
Surprisingly, the majority of Jobs’ net worth did not stem from Apple stock. It came from a stake in Disney.
The billionaire received 138 million shares when he sold the animation studio he co-founded, Pixar, to Disney in 2006, the New York Post reports. The sale made him the largest individual shareholder in Disney.
Jobs amassed a huge fortune in his lifetime. Picture: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Despite his incredible wealth, Jobs was frugal and refused to let his fortune influence his or his family’s life.
According to Walter Isaacson, author of the biography Steve Jobs, the late entrepreneur once said: “I did not want to live that nutso lavish lifestyle that so many people do when they get rich.
“I saw a lot of other people at Apple, especially after we went public, how it changed them and a lot of people thought that they had to start being rich.
“I mean, a few people went out and bought Rolls Royces, and they bought homes, and their wives got plastic surgery.
“I saw these people who were really nice simple people turn into these bizarro people. And I made a promise to myself, I said I’m not gonna let this money ruin my life.”
Who inherited Steve Jobs’ estate?
After his death, the tech pioneer left a bulk of his estate to his wife Laurene Powell Jobs including his shares in both Apple and Disney.
In 2017, Powell Jobs sold half their Disney stake in 2017 for $US7 billion ($A10.5 billion).
Today, she is worth $US30 billion ($A45 billion), making her one of the 20 richest people in the US.
Jobs had four children: Lisa Brennan-Jobs from a previous relationship, and Reed, Erin, and Eve Jobs with Laurene Powell Jobs.
Steve Jobs and wife Laurene. Picture: Alexandra Wyman/Getty Images
Steve Jobs with his daughter Lisa Brennan-Jobs in 1986. Picture: Supplied
While they did not inherit massive sums, Lisa told the Times in 2018 that she and her siblings all received a multimillion-dollar inheritance from their father.
However, none of them has a say in where the rest of the former Apple CEO’s wealth will go.
In an interview with the New York Times in 2020, Powell-Jobs said she and her late husband do not believe in “legacy wealth building” – something that Jobs’ children are aware of.
“I inherited my wealth from my husband, who didn’t care about the accumulation of wealth,” she said.
“I’m not interested in legacy wealth buildings, and my children know that … Steve wasn’t interested in that. If I live long enough, it ends with me.”
Parts of this story first appeared in the New York Post and was republished with permission.
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