Steve Wozniak Has Bounced around without much success since parting ways with Steve Jobs after the two founded Apple Computer. So he was intrigued when he got a call last year from Gilbert Amelio, whom Jobs replaced after his return to Apple. A stock underwriter, Amelio said, wanted Wozniak and Amelio to put their names on an investment deal. The two men agreed to become officers of a shell company with no operations, called Acquicor Technology. In March Acquicor raised $173 million in a blank-check initial public offering—meaning investors gave management money for the purpose of making some unknown, future investment in a business. Once a business is acquired, Wozniak, Amelio and four other founders will own 19% of the resulting company, potentially worth $33 million, though they have only put up $2 million. "We stumbled into this. It's easy and it's quick," Wozniak says.
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