Steve
Jobs
Maya Angelou
David Beckham
Beyoncé
Fidel Castro
Kelly Clarkson
Hillary Clinton
Miley Cyrus
Hilary Duff
Zac Efron
Brett Favre
50 Cent
Al Gore
Tony Hawk
Salma Hayek
LeBron James
Jay-Z
Derek Jeter
Dwayne Johnson
Angelina Jolie
Kim Jong-Il
Coretta Scott King
Ashton Kutcher
Tobey Maguire
John McCain
Barack Obama
Danica Patrick
Nancy Pelosi
Queen Latifah

ISBN-10: 1-4205-0160-7
Sheen, Barbara.
Steve Jobs / by Barbara Sheen.
p. cm. (People in the news)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4205-0160-5 (hardcover)
1. Jobs, Steven, 1955 Juvenile literature. 2. Computer engineers United States Biog-
raphy Juvenile literature. 3. Apple Computer, Inc History Juvenile literature. I. Title.
QA76.2.J63S54 2009
621.39092 dc22
[B]
2009022098
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Printed in the United States of America
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 13 12 11 10 09
Contents
Foreword 6
Introduction 8
On His Own Terms
Chapter 1 13
A Difficult Start
Chapter 2 26
Searching for Answers
Chapter 3 40
“We Will Have a Company”
Chapter 4 54
Down but Not Out
Chapter 5 69
Into the Future
Notes 83

authors, musicians, athletes, political leaders, entertainers, entre-
preneurs, and others who have made a mark on modern life and
who, in many cases, will continue to do so for years to come.
These biographies are more than factual chronicles. Each book
emphasizes the contributions, accomplishments, or deeds that
have brought fame or notoriety to the individual and shows how
that person has influenced modern life. Authors portray their sub-
jects in a realistic, unsentimental light. For example, Bill Gates—
the cofounder and chief executive officer of the software giant
Microsoft—has been instrumental in making personal computers
the most vital tool of the modern age. Few dispute his business
savvy, his perseverance, or his technical expertise, yet critics say
he is ruthless in his dealings with competitors and driven more
Foreword
7
by his desire to maintain Microsoft’s dominance in the computer
industry than by an interest in furthering technology.
In these books, young readers will encounter inspiring sto-
ries about real people who achieved success despite enormous
obstacles. Oprah Winfrey—the most powerful, most watched,
and wealthiest woman on television today—spent the first six
years of her life in the care of her grandparents while her unwed
mother sought work and a better life elsewhere. Her adolescence
was colored by promiscuity, pregnancy at age fourteen, rape, and
sexual abuse.
Each author documents and supports his or her work with an
array of primary and secondary source quotations taken from
diaries, letters, speeches, and interviews. All quotes are footnoted
to show readers exactly how and where biographers derive their
information and provide guidance for further research. The quo-

find him mysterious. But one thing is clear: Steve Jobs is not an
ordinary person. In 1976 at age twenty-one, he cofounded the
Apple Computer Company in his parents’ garage. Four years
later he was worth more than 200 million dollars. By the time
On His Own Terms
9
he was thirty, he had lost his job at Apple. Down but not out, he
started another computer company and bought Pixar, the com-
puter graphics division of a movie studio. Pixar made Jobs a
billionaire. But things were not as rosy at Apple. Without Jobs’s
vision, Apple struggled. On the brink of bankruptcy, the com-
pany brought Jobs back in 1997. In a short time, he made Apple
more successful than ever.
Jobs’s life story is indeed extraordinary. Even as a child he stood
out. He was smarter, wilder, and more of a risk taker than his
peers. And, his interests were different. His passion was electron-
Steve Jobs is a visionary who helped reimagine the com-
puter industry.