Why Steve Jobs' multi-billion-dollar net worth will 'end' with his wife

Steve Jobs left his wife, Laurene Powell Jobs, a multi-billion-dollar fortune when he died in 2011.

Part of her inheritance included significant shares in Apple and The Walt Disney Company, but she has grown her net worth with several of her own businesses and investments.

Net worth

In 2011, Laurene founded the Emerson Collective, a company that invests in education, the environment, and immigration reform. 

In July 2017, she joined the publishing world when Emerson Collective acquired a 70 percent stake in The Atlantic, making Laurene, as president of the group, a majority stakeholder in the outlet.

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She is also a minority stakeholder in Monumental Sports, parent company of the Wizards (NBA), Capitals (NHL), and Mystics (WNBA). 

Thanks to her business acumen, Laurene now has an estimated net worth of $12.1 billion, but her wealth will "end" with her.

Laurene has spoken in the past about using her fortune to fund philanthropic endeavors through the Emerson Collective, instead of accumulating "legacy wealth" for her children, Reed, Erin, and Eve. Steve also had a daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs, with Chrisann Brennan.

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She said she will distribute her billions of dollars "effectively, in ways that lift up individuals and communities in a sustainable way."

"I'm not interested in legacy wealth buildings, and my children know that," Laurene told The New York Times in February 2020. "Steve wasn't interested in that. If I live long enough, it ends with me."

She continued: "It's not right for individuals to accumulate a massive amount of wealth that's equivalent to millions and millions of other people combined. I inherited my wealth from my husband, who didn't care about the accumulation of wealth."

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Laurene added: "I am doing this in honor of his work, and I've dedicated my life to doing the very best I can to distribute it effectively, in ways that lift up individuals and communities in a sustainable way."

Steve and Laurene's children appear to be successfully making their own money. His eldest daughter, Lisa, is a writer and has published articles in Vogue, O, The Oprah Magazine, and more.

Reed is an Investor at Yosemite, a cancer-focused venture firm, while their youngest daughter, Eve, is an accomplished equestrian and model. It is unclear what Steve and Laurene's second child, Erin, does for a living, as she is the most private of the four. 

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Laurene and Steve were married for 20 years after tying the knot on March 18, 1991, in an intimate ceremony officiated by a Buddhist monk at the Ahwahnee Hotel in California's Yosemite National Park.

They met while he was giving a lecture at Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she was an M.B.A. student at the time. 

"I was in the parking lot, with the key in the car, and I thought to myself, 'If this is my last night on earth, would I rather spend it at a business meeting, or with this woman?'" Steve said in Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different: A Biography.

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"I ran across the parking lot, asked her if she'd have dinner with me. She said yes, we walked into town, and we've been together ever since."

Speaking about her late husband in 2020, Laurene told The New York Times: "I grew up with him. Just like anyone that you share your life with, there's an exchange and a robustness. We had a very, very beautiful and rich connection."