Wozniak Says He’s Bought $5 Million of Apple Stock

SAN FRANCISCO —  Steven Wozniak said Wednesday that he has bought $5 million worth of stock in Apple Computer, the company he co-founded nine years ago, because since its reorganization it is “moving in the right direction.”

Wozniak also said he plans to buy as much as $15 million more of the company’s stock soon, according to a report in the San Francisco Examiner.

The engineer resigned from Apple in February of this year and sold much of his stock in the company to finance a new venture.

In September, the other man who gave birth to Apple, Steven P. Jobs, also resigned.

His departure came during a reorganization designed by Apple President John Sculley that eased Jobs out of a decision-making role in the Cupertino, Calif.-based firm.

Wozniak said his purchase of Apple’s stock, which closed at $20 a share Wednesday, was simply a show of support.

“It’s not an investment. It’s just because it’s right,” Wozniak said. “I’m very excited about Apple. The morale is up, and the company’s products are moving in the right direction.”

Before his new purchase, Wozniak estimated his Apple holdings at less than 500,000 shares. Since he left Apple, Wozniak has been designing a remote-control device for home appliances for his new company, CL9 in Los Gatos.

Wozniak is considered the engineering genius behind Apple, having designed the Apple II, which remains the company’s most successful product.

He and Jobs started the company in 1976 after both had dropped out of college. Since then, the company has grown into the nation’s second-largest personal computer company.

For the fiscal year ended Sept. 27, Apple reported net income of $61.2 million on sales of $1.92 billion.