It was huge news when Steve Jobs returned to Apple, the company he helped start but had since lost its “magic.” Jobs insisted he was only an “advisor” to Apple at the time, but those in and around Apple knew he was really in control. Apple's then-CEO Gil Amelio depended on Jobs for the company’s vision moving forward.
So, on his first Thursday back at Apple, Jobs used this newfound leverage to his advantage: He called a board meeting and demanded Apple reprice its stock options by lowering the exercise price to make them valuable again. It was legal at the time, but not considered good business, at least ethically. But even after the board of directors balked at the idea, saying a study would take at least two months, Jobs fired back.
“You brought me here to fix this thing, and people are the key… Guys, if you don’t want to do this, I’m not coming back on Monday. Because I’ve got thousands of key decisions to make that are far more difficult than this, and if you can’t throw your support behind this kind of decision, I will fail. So if you can’t do this, I'm out of here, and you can blame it on me, you can say, ‘Steve wasn’t up for the job.’”
The board gave Jobs what he wanted. But Jobs didn’t stop there: The next day, he demanded all the board members resign, “or else I’m going to resign and not come back on Monday.” He said all the board members had to go, except for Ed Woolard, and that’s exactly what happened. By being able to choose his own board members — and act independently from them — he had the power to control Apple's next projects, which made it possible for gadgets like the iPod to exist.