It’s almost been a decade since Apple CEO Steve Jobs passed away due to pancreatic cancer. However, his legacy and ideas continue to live on until today thanks to the work his widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, has been doing in his memory.
Large Inheritance
Powell, today, is worth a reported $25 billion. This wealth primarily stems from the fortune she inherited when her husband of 20 years died in 2011.
The inheritance was composed of stocks in Apple and Disney.
She then used a big portion of the wealth to start Emerson Collective, a limited liability corporation (LLC), which Powell runs as a foundation and venture capital firm. This means that the 56-year-old focuses on finding and investing in companies that fit the foundation’s charitable mission.
The many investments Emerson Collective has made over the years benefited the likes of The Atlantic, the hockey team Washington Capitals, and even the image sharing platform Pinterest.
Changing the World
Powell’s work isn’t just a product of her own mission to do good though. She shares how she is influenced by her late husband’s belief in a person’s ability to actually change the world.
Thus, she makes sure that Emerson Collective lives up to Jobs’ vision.
One good example of the foundation at work is its College Track program, which seeks to help students earn a bachelor’s degree. The initiative was launched in 2015.
Powell shares how she understands that getting an education is some students’ way out to something bigger than what they grew up with. And this is something that she says was true in her own case, too.
She recalls how school was her happy place and that she was able to head to college despite having just okay grades in high school.
Now, Powell’s goal is to dedicate her life to do her best in honoring Jobs’ work and legacy in a way that uplifts not just individuals but also communities.
Distributing Wealth
In the end, she plans on distributing the wealth she inherited. After all, her late husband himself wasn’t one to care for simply accumulating money.
This was certainly evident in the modest home the couple kept Palo Alto.
And since Jobs didn’t show interest in ‘legacy wealth’, Powell reveals that she won’t be leaving the family fortune to their three children who are now all adults. It ends with me, she said of the fortune she inherited.