Steve Jobs sold NeXT to Apple 20 years ago today

Fortune:

Twenty years ago today, Steve Jobs started his march back to Apple.

On Dec. 20, 1996, Apple announced plans to acquire NeXT Software, the company Jobs founded, for $400 million. As part of the deal, Jobs, who had been previously pushed out of Apple, returned to report to then CEO Dr. Gil Amelio.

It’s hard to overstate the importance of this sale, not just for Apple (I don’t think the company would still be around if this hadn’t happened) but for the entire technology industry. It can be easily argued that, if it weren’t for this sale, we’d all still be using boring beige computers and talking on flip phones.