A new book reveals just how upset Steve Jobs was when early Apple employee Jon Rubinstein left the company for a position at Palm.
Rubinstein resigned in 2006 and emailed his former boss as a courtesy when Palm hired him. But just four seconds after, Jobs called to voice his disapproval, according to the upcoming book Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart Into a Visionary Leader.
“He couldn’t understand,” said Rubinstein in the book, as reported by Business Insider. “He said, ‘You’ve got plenty of money, why are you going to Palm?’ I’m like, ‘Steve, what are you talking about? I mean, you’ve got orders of magnitude more money than I have and you’re asking me? Are you joking?'”
Jobs and Rubinstein never repaired their relationship afterward. Rubinstein became CEO of Palm Computing in 2009. Hewlett-Packard purchased the company in 2010; Rubinstein left two years later. Its acquisition of Palm never achieved the hoped-for results.
HP reported revenue misses for its first-quarter earnings. HP’s earnings hit 92 cents per share, up 2% from last year, but revenue fell to $26.84, down 5% from a year ago. Apple, meanwhile, posted strong earnings in January. The company reported earnings of $3.06 per share with revenue of $74.6 billion on the heels of record iPhone sales. Analysts expected Apple to report earnings of $2.60 per share with revenue of $67.9 billion.