You could own a magazine signed by Steve Jobs for (at least) $11k

Steve Jobs Signed Fortune Magazine
Steve Jobs Signed Fortune Magazine (Image credit: Nate D. Sanders Auctions)

What you need to know

  • Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was on the cover of Fortune in October 1989.
  • His chauffeur had a copy of the magazine signed by Jobs, although he wasn't happy about it.
  • That magazine is now up for auction with a starting bid of $11,000.

You, too, could own an interesting bit of Steve Jobs memorabilia so long as you're willing to hand over more than $11,000. That's the current bid on a copy of the October 9, 1989 issue of Fortune that bears not only a photo of the Apple co-founder, but also his signature.

The magazine was signed after one of his chauffeurs asked him to do it – a move that upset Jobs. But not until after he'd done it.

Steve Jobs signed ''Fortune'' magazine cover from its 9 October 1989 issue, published shortly after the launch of Jobs' new company NeXT, Inc. Jobs signs in black ink, ''To Terry / steve jobs'', with his characteristic lower case signature, next to a photo of the charismatic technology icon. The recipient, Terry, was one of Jobs' chauffeur drivers for several years before asking Jobs to sign this magazine, although Jobs subsequently called the limousine company to complain about the autograph request.

The magazine came at an important point in Jobs' life, shortly after NeXT launched. Nobody knew at the time how things would ultimately pan out, but the events of the next 20 years probably made this magazine worth more than it otherwise would be!

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.