IBM

“They raised fifteen million dollars from IBM, which took a 50% stake in the company. And provided much of the hardware to get it started.”

“So in 1987, IBM's market cap was a hundred billion dollars. It was the first company to break the hundred billion dollar market cap threshold, which was surprising to me. I didn't know that. And it was the most valuable company in the world.”

“In 1998, with over twelve billion in sales, we surpassed IBM and Apple to become the second biggest PC company in the world. Only Compaq now stood above us, and we had them in our sights.”

“We introduced our first brand name computer. So now he's not just souping up other machines. He's making his own. Okay. It was 795 dollars. If you got the same configuration from IBM, you would have to pay between 1525 hundred dollars.”

“Now Microsoft, a company with seven million dollars in annual sales, had fewer than 40 employees, and was about to go into business with IBM, an international giant with revenues approaching thirty billion dollars a year.”

“If you're a fighter, the only way up is through the top fighters in your division. So we picked fights with Microsoft and IBM because they're the ones we had to beat to reach the top. By constantly measuring ourselves against the two top heavyweights, we const…”

“IBM agreed to Thirty million dollars on signing the contract and another thirty million dollars on shipping and then royalties on every copy they ship. A total investment of sixty million, which is three times how much Ross Perot put in and a windfall that bro…”

“Years later, he confided in Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull That he had learned a lesson from the collapse of the IBM deal. Never overplay your hand.”