The early life of billionaire philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs was very different from the immense wealth she enjoys today. While she now spends her summers travelling from the Mediterranean to Australia aboard her $120 million superyacht, Venus, her childhood in rural New Jersey was filled with financial struggles and a complete absence of family holidays.With a net worth of more than $14 billion, largely built on Apple and Disney shares, the 62-year-old founder and president of Emerson Collective is now considered one of the most influential women in US. Her multi-billion-dollar portfolio, which includes luxury real estate and about $5 billion in charitable giving, did not come from inheritance. Instead, it grew out of a lower-middle-class upbringing where nature provided the family’s main source of entertainment.
Pack of four siblings living in a rural setup
Powell Jobs grew up with three brothers in a home where money was always limited. Her father died when she was just three years old, leaving her mother, a teacher, to raise four young children on her own. That experience changed her view of life.In an interview with Tilting Futures, Powell Jobs said her childhood was much more rural than suburban. She remembered that she and her brothers were close in age and did almost everything together. The family could not afford holidays or regular trips away. Instead, their free time depended on the changing seasons in northwest New Jersey.During the summer, the children swam in nearby lakes instead of private swimming pools. In winter, they skated on the frozen lakes. Even with these financial challenges, Powell Jobs later said she never felt her childhood was lacking: “But the place where we lived was abundant and full of interest and we were very curious kids.”
From student debt to corporate finance
Her journey from rural New Jersey to the top of American business took years of hard work. She attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she built up large student loans to pay for her education. After graduating, she needed to become financially independent as quickly as possible.Although she was interested in public service, the need to repay her student loans pushed her toward a career in corporate finance. She accepted a job at Goldman Sachs and stayed there until she had paid off her education debt. Only after becoming financially secure did she feel able to explore business opportunities and charitable work.A major turning point came when she attended Stanford Graduate School of Business. There, she met her future husband, Steve Jobs, after attending a guest lecture he gave at the university. Their relationship eventually connected her to the growing success of Apple and Pixar, although she continued building her own career around social causes and environmentally focused businesses.
The Earth Cruiser before the superyacht
Long before owning one of the world’s most famous superyachts, Powell Jobs started her first business with a classmate from Stanford. Together, they founded Terravera, an organic vegetarian food company that supplied healthy meals to office workers across California.The business ran from a mobile food truck called the Earth Cruiser, a white van with a candy-striped canvas awning. It gave office workers healthy vegetarian meals while reflecting Powell Jobs’ growing interest in healthy food and the environment. Years later, she carried those same values into the Waverley Street Foundation, committing billions of dollars to projects that tackle climate change.
The early financial struggles of Apple
The huge technology fortune that now supports these global environmental projects began during a time of serious financial uncertainty. When Steve Jobs co-founded Apple on April 1, 1976, with Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne, the company had very little money.Apple was created to sell the Apple I, a personal computer designed and hand-built by Wozniak. To complete their first major order from the Byte Shop, a California computer retailer that agreed to buy 50 computers, Jobs and Wozniak had to sell their most valuable personal belongings. Jobs sold his Volkswagen van, while Wozniak sold his programmable calculator to pay for the parts needed to build the machines.The company also faced uncertainty during its first few weeks. Ronald Wayne, who wrote Apple’s original partnership agreement and designed its first logo, became worried about the financial risks. He left the company less than two weeks after it was founded, selling his 10 per cent ownership stake back to Jobs and Wozniak.Apple’s future changed in 1977 with the launch of the Apple II. Featuring colour graphics, a plastic case and expansion slots, the computer became a huge success with consumers, schools and businesses. Strong sales of the Apple II established Apple as one of the leading companies in the growing personal computer industry, creating the fortune that would eventually become the multibillion-dollar estate managed by Powell Jobs.
The legacy of Venus
The $120 million glass palace that turned Steve Jobs’ design language into a floating icon. Image – Youtube / Captain Rick Moore
Today, one of the most visible symbols of that technology fortune is the superyacht Venus, a 78-metre vessel with minimalist glass walls designed by Philippe Starck. Steve Jobs first commissioned the yacht in 2008, making it one of his final major personal projects, which he discussed with people including Bill Gates during the last months of his life.Steve Jobs died in October 2011, about a year before the completed yacht was officially revealed at the Feadship shipyard in the Netherlands. After his death in 2011, ownership of the vessel passed to Powell Jobs.The superyacht continues to travel around the world and recently made international headlines after colliding with another private yacht, Lady Moura, off the coast of Naples.
