MovieChat Forums > Jobs (2013) Discussion > Too Much Backstabbing

Too Much Backstabbing

posted 9 years ago by CapitanJusticia
2 replies | jump to latest

It's a shame there was so much backstabbing in this story. First Steve Jobs back stabs his friends from the garage when he doesn't give them any shares for the IPO. Then Jobs gets stabbed when he gets fired from his own company and Mike Markkula betrays him. Then Markkula gets it at the end from the board when he's encouraged to accept that 'benefit package' and shown the door. This seemed more like the mafia than a company. What does this say about the corporate world?

[–] AimC 9 years ago

I thought Markkula, as presented, did as fair a job as he could. He warns Jobs early, which was sticking his neck out to help Jobs. Once the board was becoming unanimous, there was no point to vote for Jobs against Sculley. All that would do is cause friction after Jobs leaves with an all-vs-2 vote. He still needs to work with the board after Jobs is fired.

The amount of backstabbing is commensurate to the stakes. When stakes are even higher, the backstabbing becomes literal. See royal families throughout history.

To come full circle, if you and your close folks were dealing in big bucks, you might be ambushing and elbowing each other out of shares. If you were dealing in monarchical power, you might be killing each other.

Woz seemed to be an exception; according to Wikipedia, he gave Dan Kottke some of his shares when Jobs decided to cut Dan out completely. (Dan was not some low-level technician as the movie portrayed).

[–] CapitanJusticia 9 years ago

Good points, thanks for the post.