Steve Jobs had a high school GPA of 2.65, did marijuana and LSD while in college and called the bluff of a guy who phoned-in several bomb threats warning that he'd detonate an explosive in Jobs' home if he didn't hand over a million dollars, according to newly-released FBI records.
Also, people close to the Apple founder were equally willing to both trash him as a "deceptive individual" and praise him as "a visionary" when the FBI came calling to do some background checks in 1991.
Jobs was being considered for an appointment by President George H.W. Bush to the President's Export Council at the time and the file created during that exhaustive fact-finding mission has just been made public by the bureau.
You can look over the entire document online right here, but we should warn you it's 191 pages long. We read the whole thing so you don't have to. Here are the highlights:
Page 10: On his employment record, Jobs includes "1/76 - 9/85 Chairman and founder Apple Computer." That must look great on a resume.
Page 14: Asked if he has ever left a job under "unfavorable" circumstances, Jobs selects "Yes" and lists "Apple Computers"
Page 15: "Have you ever been a member, officer or employee of the Communist Party?" Jobs selects "No". Take THAT, Sen. McCarthy!
Page 38: Multiple people interviewed about Jobs' character say they saw him do drugs when he was younger, but hadn't in a long time. At least one also questioned his honesty, stating "Mr. Jobs will twist the truth and distort reality in order to achieve his goals."
Page 39: "It should be noted Mr. Jobs is adopted."
Page 41: Former colleague at tech company ACI says Jobs is "a deceptive individual who is not completely forthright and honest."
Page 41: The same person says "he was aware Mr. Jobs used illegal drugs, including marijuana and LSD, while they were attending college."
Page 41: Wow, page 41 is turning out to be pretty good. Jobs was sued after resigning from his previous employer, ACI, for allegedly taking with him some of the tech company's proprietary information. The entire FBI file documents multiple legal battles involving either Jobs individually or Apple.
Page 44: Female acquaintance agreed with media descriptions of Jobs as a "visionary" and "charismatic" while also acknowledging he's narcissistic, shallow and can "lose sight of honesty and integrity"
Page 44: She also admits taking drugs with Jobs in college, but says at the time she was being questioned (1991) he had become very health conscious and "rarely even drinks but will have wine socially."
Page 54: A series of people all give a pretty similar assessment of the Apple co-founder, saying essentially 'yes' he did drugs, 'yes' he could be deceptive, but he was amazingly bright, a good leader and all recommend his appointment to the president's council.
Page 54: Except for this one guy who seemed a bit bitter. The FBI records that he told them: "Appointee is technically oriented but is in the opinion of many, not an engineer, since he never actually graduated from College with a degree in engineering." Yeah, well, he invented the iPod so ...
Page 55: Multiple interview subjects told of how Jobs fathered a daughter out of wedlock with his girlfriend. All accounts agree that Jobs was largely absent from his daughter's childhood, but had recently become more involved and available.
Page 65: An associate who worked at the time for Sun Microsystems told investigators "The Appointee (Jobs), based upon this ingenuity, is just the type of individual needed to participate in national science and technology forums"
Page 72: A co-worker at Pixar (and this is four years before "Toy Story" when few people had ever heard of the animation company) rattled off the following traits about the "Mac" Daddy: "extremely intelligent," "not an individual who can be intimidated," "excellent business negotiator."
Page 184: On to the bomb threats. On February 7, 1985, a series of calls were made warning that "devices" had been placed in the homes of Jobs and at least one other person. The person on the phone demanded a million dollars and indicated there were four bombs in all. He warned one of them would detonate "if authorities notified."
Page 185: An associate who spoke with the suspect was told "that there are "devices" that can go off and that he will call [redacted] back in fifteen minutes." This information was relayed to Jobs who, according to the FBI report, "refused to comply with unsub's demands and informed him that he felt threat not a real one."
What was that again about Steve Jobs not being easily intimidated?
In all, roughly 30 people were interviewed by special agents. Though the report notes "the Apple Computer Company has been less than cooperative" in assisting.
One pretty significant person not interviewed for the background check? Steve Jobs. Although he filled out some basic biographical paperwork, the file reports several instances of Jobs' secretary informing them that he was away and would not be available to meet for the next three weeks.
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