Steve Jobs Feared His Porsche 911 Would Display His Wealth And Cost Him A $20 Million Deal–So He Scrambled To Hide It From Ross Perot

Steve Jobs was known for his obsession with perfection in the products he created and the cars he drove. His love for the Porsche 911 was legendary, and for years, he swapped his black Porsche for a new one every six months for a very Jobs-like reason – to avoid having a license plate. But in 1987, that prized car became a problem when billionaire Ross Perot was set to visit NeXT, the company Jobs founded after being pushed out of Apple AAPL.

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Perot, a self-made billionaire and founder of Electronic Data Systems, was interested in investing in NeXT. But he was also known for his no-nonsense, frugal approach to business. Jobs feared that if Perot saw him and his colleague Randy Adams driving flashy Porsche 911 Turbos, he might assume NeXT didn't need funding. So, in a moment of panic, Jobs ran into Adams’ office and blurted out, “Randy, we have to hide the Porsches!” The software engineer, who also owned a Porsche 911 Turbo, looked up, puzzled. "Ross Perot is coming to see us, and I don't want him to think we have that much money."

The two quickly moved their cars out of sight before Perot arrived. Whether the billionaire would have cared or not, the strategy worked – Perot ended up investing $20 million in NeXT, securing the company's survival. He even sat on the board, believing in Jobs' vision for revolutionizing education through technology.

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That investment may have seemed like a loss for Perot at the time – NeXT never became a massive success. However, a decade later, Apple bought NeXT for $400 million, bringing Jobs back into the company he founded. The software NeXT developed became the foundation for macOS and, later, iOS, which now powers the iPhone and iPad.

Jobs’ love for the Porsche 911 never faded, but his need to hide it that day played a small yet pivotal role in Apple's incredible comeback. Without that $20 million from Perot, the trajectory of the tech world might have looked very different. Whether Jobs ever told Perot about the great Porsche hideout remains a mystery, but one thing is certain – sometimes, even a perfectionist has to bend the truth to make a deal happen.

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