Man who sold 10% of his Apple shares for $801 in 1976 missed the shocking amount they are worth today

Today, you wouldn’t even think about selling Apple shares, but one of the little-known founders sold his 10 percent stake – and that was really a mistake.

Apple is considered one of the biggest names in the technology industry.

So if you were lucky enough to own some Apple shares, you would be quite proud of yourself and your regular dividend payments.

But imagine if you owned a whopping 10 percent of Apple instead of 0.000003 percent of the company.

Now imagine that you had decided to sell that stock for just $801, not recently but back in 1976, before the tech giant had such a tight grip on the industry.

If this describes you, then you are businessman Ronald Wayne, the third co-founder of Apple.

Ronald Wayne’s decision to sell Apple shares is often ridiculed online. (BBC)

In fact, this decision is often laughed at on social media because if Wayne had kept those shares, he would probably be even richer than he is now, much richer.

One user tweeted on August 23: “If anyone is having a bad day, remember that today is the anniversary of Ronald Wayne selling a 10 percent stake in Apple for $801 in 1976. Today that stake would be worth $341,200,000,000.”

That’s 10 percent of Apple’s net worth, and in case you can’t figure it out yourself, that means Apple’s net worth is currently around $3.4 trillion.

Admittedly, that puts my mind at ease, so cheers to the random internet user.

Wayne has been asked many times about his decision to sell his stake, and he doesn’t seem to think too much about it.

That can’t be me, I get upset enough when I lose $10, let alone a few hundred billion dollars.

Years later, reflecting on the millions he lost, he said, “The reason I didn’t complain is very simple.”

Wayne sees the whole thing quite positively, even though he could have been a billionaire. (BBC)

“Should I make myself sick about this whole thing, on top of everything else that’s going on? It didn’t make sense. Just get up and move on. I didn’t want to waste my future complaining about my past.

“Does that mean I’m emotionless and don’t feel the pain? Of course not. But I deal with it by moving on to the next thing. That’s all any of us can do.”

A nice attitude, certainly…but that can’t be me, because at every barbecue or birthday party I’d end up telling people I could have been a billionaire, but Wayne’s attitude is probably healthier for you.