Former Apple chief Sculley attends opera about Steve Jobs

The National

05-05-2025

Former Apple chief executive John Sculley recently had the opportunity to relive the highs and lows of working with Steve Jobs by attending an opera about the late technology tycoon in Washington. 'A wonderful evening at the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC,' he posted in an Instagram photo carousel showing his attendance at The (R) evolution of Steve Jobs. According to Mr Sculley's social media posts, he also treated those in attendance to an impromptu question-and-answer session to discuss his experiences working with Mr Jobs and his time at Apple. In what has now become part of Silicon Valley folklore, Mr Jobs convinced Mr Sculley to make the leap from PepsiCo, where he served as president, to Apple as chief executive in 1983, which at the time was seen as an unprecedented and risky career move. With his marketing background that won him accolades at Pepsi through campaigns such as the Pepsi Challenge, he helped bolster revenue on Apple products such as the Apple II, while also working closely with Mr Jobs on introducing the Macintosh computer in 1984. Although revolutionary for its graphical user interface that is now ubiquitous in computing, sluggish Macintosh sales caused tension between Mr Sculley and Mr Jobs, leading Apple's board to side with Mr Sculley and strip Mr Jobs of a role in the company. Apple's revenue grew rapidly in the initial years following Mr Jobs's departure, but the company's lead with Macintosh methodically evaporated as Microsoft made progress with Windows and the proliferation of PC clones led to increasingly slim profit margins for the industry as a whole. The company's sales and market share plummeted and many blamed Mr Sculley for failing to adjust Apple's direction. He was sacked in 1993, and later watched as Mr Jobs returned to Apple in 1997, bringing the company from the brink of bankruptcy to one of the most influential technology companies in the world. For years, in many Silicon Valley and business circles, Mr Sculley was cast as a villain, the man who made the mistake of firing Mr Jobs. But in recent years, he has pointed out in interviews that Apple's board at the time made the decision. He has also since said that it was mistake to leave Mr Jobs with no role at Apple during the tumultuous year that led to his dismissal. In a 2014 interview with The National, Mr Sculley briefly touched on his time at Apple and the fracture of his relationship with Mr Jobs. 'I have so many mistakes, we don't have the time to go through them. You only learn from your mistakes, you never learn from your successes,' he said at the time. 'If anything, the biggest risk is when you are successful, you become a victim of that success because you believe you did something brilliantly well and then you later discover you were just plain lucky.' Mr Sculley is chairman of Nirvana Health / RxAdvance, which assists with pharmaceutical and the reduction of administrative health care costs. He also cofounded Obi Mobile in 2014, a company that launched what it described as affordable smartphones, although the company is no longer operational. Mr Sculley is not featured in the opera, although several actors have portrayed him in films and shows over the years. He previously praised Jeff Daniels portrayal of him in Aaron Sorkin's 2015 Steve Jobs biopic. The former Apple chief executive also figured prominently in the award-winning documentary General Magic, which took an in-depth look at one of the first attempts at creating a smartphone in the mid-1990s. The Grammy-winning The (R) evolution of Steve Jobs is currently being staged at Washington's Kennedy Centre. John Moore sings the role of Mr Jobs.