Bill Gates on Steve Jobs: Microsoft founder Bill Gates did not interact much with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and had a different opinion about him. A book reveals that Bill Gates was jealous of Steve Jobs. In the book Billionaire, Nerd, Savior, King: Bill Gates and His Quest to Shape Our World, written by New York Times journalist Anupreeta Das, revelations about Gates and Jobs are made. An anecdote from the Macworld Boston event in 1997 is recounted in the book.
In 1997, Bill Gates invested $150 million in Apple. This investment was to be announced at an event in Boston, but Gates chose to avoid attending and instead addressed the meeting via video conference. “At Apple’s Macworld event in Boston in August 1997, Steve Jobs paced the stage, mesmerizing the audience with an impassioned address. Meanwhile, Bill Gates sat in Seattle, watching it all through video conferencing forlornly,” the book states.
The book further notes, “Jobs communicated effortlessly with the audience. Stopping at the right moments, cracking jokes, Steve Jobs spoke like a stage actor. Bill Gates both admired and envied this. Gates asked a colleague sitting next to him at that time, ‘How does he (Steve Jobs) do this?’
Bill Gates has publicly admitted that when Steve Jobs gives advice to the audience from the stage, it seems natural. Gates went on to say that watching Jobs rehearse before a public event was entertaining and that it was part of Jobs’ genius. However, when Jobs spoke on stage, he did so with such ease that it appeared as though he had invented it on the spot.
Talking about Steve Jobs, Gates added that Jobs was a great performer who captivated people. Gates said, “I was a younger magician than him, so I never fell under his spell. But I have often seen Steve Jobs mesmerize people with his incredible presence. Then, I would look at the audience in front of me, seeing them stare at Jobs in awe, a sight that made me jealous of Jobs.”
