This week marks the 25th anniversary of Apple announcing that it had agreed to acquire NeXT for $400 million. The stunning move brought Steve Jobs back to Apple over a decade after he left the company following an internal power struggle.
“The acquisition of NeXT is the start of a new chapter in Apple’s history and represents a milestone in our transformation as a corporation,” said former Apple CEO Gil Amelio, when the deal was announced December 20, 1996. “Today Apple welcomed back its most talented visionary Steve Jobs, someone who can inspire a new generation of customers and software developers and show that Apple remains the industry home for innovation and excitement.”
A key reason Apple acquired NeXT was to gain access to its Unix-based NeXTSTEP operating system, which served as the foundation of Mac OS X.
Read more at MacRumors.com