Steve Jobs left behind a brilliant yet complicated legacy following his untimely death in 2011. The visionary Apple co-founder revolutionised personal computing, changing the world with innovations such as the iPod and iPhone. But his professional and personal lives were marred by controversy.
The tech pioneer famously once said having kids was "10,000 times better" than anything else he'd done, yet he rejected his first daughter, Lisa, for years. He also bequeathed almost the entirety of his estimated $7 billion estate (the equivalent of $9.8bn/£7.7bn in today's money) to his wife Laurene, leaving Lisa and her half-siblings Reed, Erin, and Eva to forge their own paths. While little is known about their net worths today, we do have an idea of how they make their money
Read on to find out what happened to Steve Jobs' fortune and discover the careers his four children are pursuing today.
All dollar amounts in US dollars
Born in San Francisco in 1955, Steve Jobs was adopted shortly after his birth and raised in a supportive environment that nurtured his innate talent for invention.
A computer nerd from a young age, he bagged a summer job at Hewlett-Packard when he was just 13. He later dropped out of college in 1973 to work for video games maker Atari, before hitting the hippie trail in India.
When he got back to the US, the future billionaire decided to get serious. In 1976, aged 21, he founded Apple with his high school buddy Steve Wozniak, who had designed his own computer logic board.
The logic board became the Apple I desktop computer, which paved the way for the blockbuster Apple II. Launched in 1977, the device, which included a keyboard, disc slots, and a case, was hugely popular and proved instrumental in powering the personal computing revolution.
By 1978, Jobs had become a millionaire. That same year, the 23-year-old fathered his first child, Lisa, with on-off girlfriend Chrisann Brennan, although he denied paternity for years.
In 1979, his net worth surpassed $10 million, which translates to over $43 million (£34m) in today's money. And when Apple went public in 1980, his fortune surged to $239 million, equivalent to $911 million (£719m) in 2024.
In 1982, Jobs was the second-youngest person to feature on the debut Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans.
The Apple Lisa, named after the daughter Steve had abandoned, was launched in 1983 but, unlike its predecessor, it was a flop. The Mackintosh personal computer followed a year later. Sales were buoyant but not buoyant enough to significantly eat into rival IBM's market share, putting Steve at loggerheads with John Sculley (shown here on the right), the CEO he'd poached from PepsiCo in 1983.
Described as a ruthless perfectionist, Jobs was notoriously difficult to work with, according to a number of his former colleagues. His demanding personality, coupled with disappointing sales of the Lisa and Mackintosh, proved too much and he was ousted from Apple in 1985.
Jobs then founded NeXT Software and became the majority shareholder in Pixar, before going on to own the up-and-coming computer animation studio entirely.
In 1989, he met Laurene Powell while she was studying for an MBA at the prestigious Stanford University in California. The couple tied the knot in 1991 and their son Reed arrived not long after, followed by daughter Erin in 1995.
In fact, Jobs had a lot to celebrate in 1995. Having clinched a lucrative deal with Disney, Pixar released Toy Story, its first full-length feature film, which went on to become the second highest-grossing movie of the year. Pixar went public that November, propelling Steve to billionaire status.
In 1997, Jobs returned as Apple "iCEO" (that lowercase "i" is for "interim", in case you're wondering) when the company acquired his NeXT business, heralding the beginning of a remarkable renaissance for the Silicon Valley stalwart. A year later, he welcomed his fourth child, daughter Eve.
Jobs oversaw the launch of the groundbreaking iMac, iPod, iTunes, iPhone, and iPad, with Apple officially becoming the world's most valuable company in 2011.
Tragically, the tech trailblazer had little time to bask in the glory of his success as he passed away in October 2011 after an eight-year battle with pancreatic cancer. As his widow told The New York Times in 2020, Steve didn't believe in "legacy wealth building".
Laurene Powell Jobs inherited the lion's share of her late husband's estate, estimated by Forbes to be worth the previously mentioned $7 billion.
She received 40 million Apple shares and 138 million shares in Disney, which Steve had acquired when he sold Pixar to the entertainment giant in 2006 (she's since offloaded half the Disney portfolio, cutting down her ownership of the company to 4%).
Steve didn't believe in accumulating wealth and Laurene has previously said that if she lives long enough, the fortune will end with her, meaning her kids are unlikely to see a dime of it.
Laurene has certainly been putting her money where her mouth is. She's donated a huge chunk of her wealth to good causes, largely via Emerson Collective, the charitable organisation she set up in 2004.
Emerson focuses on environmental justice, health, immigration, and education. Laurene is also the co-founder of XQ Institute, a non-profit "dedicated to rethinking the high-school experience" (to quote its website), as well as educational program College Track. She also oversees a foundation that's distributing $3.5 billion (£2.8bn) to combat climate change.
Other investments include a substantial stake in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, the proprietor of several major US teams, including the NBA's Washington Wizards and NHL's Washington Capitals.
The Apple and Disney shareholder owns or is heavily invested in a number of left-leaning media outlets including The Atlantic, Axios, and ProPublica. She's donated millions of dollars to the Democratic Party, including $929,600 (£734k) to President Biden's re-election campaign. At the current time, Laurene's net worth stands at $14.5 billion (£11.4bn), down from a peak of $20 billion in 2017.
Laurene may be big-time into philanthropy, but she isn't averse to spending money on herself. The tech billionaire has just snapped up a spectacular oceanfront estate in Malibu for $94 million (£74.2m), adding to her already bulging real estate portfolio.
And she's sitting on plenty of extravagant assets besides, including a Gulfstream G650 private jet and a $120 million (£94.7m) Venus superyacht.
Now, let's explore the lives and fortunes of Steve Jobs' four children...
Lisa Brennan-Jobs was born in 1978 on a hippie commune in Oregon and grew up in California. While Steve helped name the child he fathered with artist Chrisann Brennan, he later denied any connection. Chrisann relied on welfare payments and had to take on cleaning and waitressing jobs to make ends meet.
In 1980, the local San Mateo District Attorney stepped in and sued Steve for child support. He responded by claiming he was sterile and couldn't have fathered a child. The court then forced him to take a DNA test, which proved he was indeed Lisa's father.
The Apple boss was ordered to pay child support of $385 a month, which he agreed to increase to $500, as well as cover Lisa's health insurance until she reached the age of 18.
At less than $2,000 (£1.6k) in today's money, the monthly payment was incredibly stingy given Steve's enormous wealth.
The tech titan did eventually acknowledge Lisa – Apple's ill-fated computer was named in her honour, after all – and their relationship improved to the point that she ended up living with her father, stepmother, and half-siblings for a while during her teenage years.
But things were far from rosy, according to Lisa's 2018 memoir Small Fry, which presents a damning picture of Steve as a cold and mean-spirited parent, who even baulked at covering her college fees.
Lisa managed to get a stellar education nonetheless, studying at Harvard University and King's College, London.
After graduating in 2000, she moved to Manhattan and has since carved out a successful career as a writer. In addition to penning the controversial memoir, which other members of the Jobs family have claimed is inaccurate, Lisa has contributed to a number of prominent publications, including The Harvard Advocate, American Vogue, and Spiked.
While Lisa didn't inherit her father's billions, she wasn't exactly cut out of his will, either. The wordsmith told The New York Times in 2018 that she was actually left an inheritance "in the millions", as had Steve's other children (despite reports suggesting they had all been disinherited).
Steve's only son was born in 1991. Reportedly named after the college his father dropped out of, Reed Jobs would later attend his mother's alma mater, Stanford University; he's pictured here with her at the college in 2016.
After his father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Reed developed an interest in cancer treatment and landed an oncology internship at Stanford when he was just 15 years old.
Reed was studying pre-med biology at Stanford when his father died in 2011. Overwhelmed by grief and needing to take a step back from learning about the disease, he switched his major to history.
Reed graduated with honours in 2014 and received a master's degree the following year. By this time, his interest in oncology had returned to the fore and in 2015 he joined his mother's Emerson Collective as managing director of the organisation's health programs.
Reed has made it his life mission to fight the disease that killed his father.
"All I really care about in this world is making a huge difference for cancer patients," he told TechCrunch last year. "What I want to do in my entire life is to make cancer non-lethal in our lifetimes... That’s what I want to be known for."
Last September, Reed started up Yosemite, a venture capital firm funding new cancer treatments. Named after the national park where his parents tied the knot, the Emerson Collective spin-off has raised more than $200 million (£158m) so far from investors, including the likes of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the Rockefeller University, and MIT.
The funding is being put to good use. It's already bankrolled several prominent startups in three areas of cancer treatment: early detection, immunotherapy, and digital health.
Like his father, Reed doesn't appear motivated by money, unless it's going towards making cancer 100% survivable, so he's no doubt unphased by the fact his mother is giving away the bulk of his late father's estate to good causes, including the fight against cancer.
Unbothered about the limelight, Reed has said fame is low on his priority list – though if he ends up achieving what he's set out to do, he'll leave an even greater legacy than his tech pioneer father...
Erin Siena Jobs was born in 1995, the year her father became a billionaire. Erin is the most private of her siblings and keeps an ultra-low profile. She's described in Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve as "quiet" and "introspective".
Erin had this to say to the writer when quizzed about her relationship with her famous father: "Sometimes I wish I had more of his attention, but I know the work he’s doing is very important and I think it’s really cool, so I’m fine. I don’t really need more attention."
Information about Steve's most off-radar child is thin on the ground. Erin reportedly studied architecture at Tulane University in New Orleans and, according to her profile on Facebook, still lives in the Big Easy. However, her account appears to have been inactive for years, so it's likely that she could have moved by now.
Steve was a creative genius and Siena takes after her dad in this respect. Though she studied architecture, Erin seems to be pursuing a career as a ceramicist. She discovered the craft in the autumn of 2019 and honed her skills during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
In October 2022, Erin showcased her work at swish Hamptons art gallery Make Hauser & Wirth, which specialises in modern and contemporary art. Entitled Clay Is My Language, the exhibition featured an array of thrown and hand-built works in stoneware and porcelain.
Described as "an emerging maker", the up-and-coming ceramicist is all about channelling her emotions into the clay, with each piece reflecting her state of mind when she made it.
The youngest of Steve's kids, Eve was born in 1998, just as Apple was beginning its renaissance.
Sporty and academically gifted, Eve is an accomplished equestrienne and Stanford graduate. She's now a model and society "It girl".
Eve's love of horses was cemented in 2016 when her mother scooped up a $15 million ($19.6m/£15.5m in today's money) equestrian ranch in Wellington, Florida. Under the guidance of top equestrian coach Missy Clark, Eve and her trusty steed Chill RZ went on to smash it at showjumping events in the US and around the world.
In March 2017, Eve was named Show Jumping Hall of Fame Rider of the Month and in 2019, she was ranked the fifth best rider in the world aged under 25.
Coincidently, Bill Gates' daughter Jennifer is also a competing equestrienne and Stanford graduate, so it's fair to say the friendly rivalry between Gates and Jobs has continued into the next generation.
Eve graduated from the top Californian university in 2021 with a honour's degree in science, technology, and society. Her modelling career had begun in earnest the previous year when she starred in a Glossier ad campaign alongside Sydney Sweeney and Naomi Smalls.
After graduating, Eve made her catwalk debut, walking for Coperni at Paris Fashion Week in September 2021. The following year, the Jobs scion signed with DNA Model Management, the agency that represents Emily Ratajkowski, Kaia Gerber, and Linda Evangelista.
Eve has since landed an American Vogue editorial, Vogue Japan cover, and a Louis Vuitton campaign, among a number of other supermodel-worthy gigs.
As a result, it's likely that Eve is the richest of the Jobs kids today.
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