Christie’s auction house is preparing to auction Apple’s founding contract, with an estimated value of 2-4 million USD.
The original three-page contract is an agreement between Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ron Wayne signed on April 1, 1976 to establish Apple, which determined the initial shareholding ratio to be 45% for Jobs, 45% for Wozniak and 10% for Wayne.
Apple founding contract with signatures of Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ron Wayne. Photo: Sotheby’s
Documents recording Wayne’s withdrawal as a partner just 12 days after the company was founded are also included in this auction package. Initially, Wayne received $800 for a 10% stake in the company, then received an additional $1,500. Wayne later said he withdrew because he knew the project would be difficult and that the high-risk journey was not for him.
Theo Macrumorsif Wayne’s original 10% stake had been retained, would now be worth $409 billion based on Apple’s $4 trillion valuation. This is just a fun comparison, because Apple stock has split many times, with the issuance of new shares and structural changes meaning that the original 10% cannot be converted to the equivalent of the current number of shares.
Christie’s auction house will offer Wayne’s contract and withdrawal agreement as a single package on January 23, 2026. Auction house Sotheby’s last sold Apple’s founding contract in December 2011 to a private collector for $1.6 million. Before that, in the early 1990s, Wayne also sold copies of the contract for $500.
Items related to Apple and Steve Jobs often sell for high prices, such as his job application being bought for $175,000, a handwritten letter to childhood friend Tim Brown fetching $300,000, or one of Apple’s first checks signed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak for $135,000.