The brief
In 1995, journalist Robert Cringely interviewed Steve Jobs at NeXT headquarters in Redwood City, California for a PBS documentary called Triumph of the Nerds. The interview ran 69 minutes. Ten minutes aired. The master tapes were lost in shipping. A VHS copy was found in the documentary director’s garage in 2011, after Jobs’ death, and released as a standalone film.
What was happening underneath
NeXT had accumulated $273 million in losses At the time of the interview, NeXT had recorded losses of $273 million across its operating life. The hardware division had been shuttered in 1993 after shipping just 50,000 computers in seven years — roughly one week of Apple’s sales volume at the time. By 1995 the company had pivoted entirely to software, with a single year of marginal profitability ($1.03 million in 1994) between years of losses ranging from $40 to $66 million annually.
The interviewer had been hired and fired by Jobs three times Robert Cringely, who conducted the interview, had worked for Jobs at Apple on three separate occasions and been dismissed each time. This detail was not disclosed during the broadcast portion of the documentary. Cringely later noted that Jobs had been too nervous to complete their first scheduled session and had cancelled it.
Toy Story had just opened and Jobs had not mentioned Pixar The interview took place the same month Toy Story was released in cinemas. The film became the largest IPO of 1995, valuing Pixar at approximately $1.5 billion. Jobs, who had purchased Pixar from George Lucas for $5 million in 1986, did not discuss it during the interview. The documentary made no reference to Pixar either.
Apple bought NeXT fourteen months later In December 1996, Apple acquired NeXT for $429 million. The acquisition was structured to return Jobs to Apple, which was then 90 days from insolvency. The NeXT operating system became the foundation of macOS. Jobs immediately sold the Apple shares he received as part of the sale.
The record
Jobs returned as Apple’s interim CEO in 1997. The iMac launched in 1998. At the time of his death in 2011, Apple was the most valuable publicly traded company in the world. The interview tapes were found in a garage.
A production assistant listed in the Triumph of the Nerds crew records as M. Pascal was present at the Redwood City shoot. He is not heard in the interview.
Sources: Computer History Museum, Cult of Mac, Cringely.com, Wikipedia, ArtsATL, Rotten Tomatoes