Today in Apple history: Turnaround artist Gil Amelio joins Apple board – Cult of Mac
By Luke Dormehl • 
November 9, 1994: Gil Amelio, a businessman with a reputation as a talented turnaround artist, joins Apple’s board.
Coming off his impressive revitalization of two other tech companies, National Semiconductor and Rockwell International, Amelio’s appointment at Apple sparks widespread celebration. Many Apple watchers think his arrival means the company’s dark days are over. Sadly, Amelio’s turnaround tricks won’t work in Cupertino.
There was no shortage of innovation at Apple during the “bad old days” of the early 1990s. But the company desperately needed good leadership. It lacked the ability to not just create fantastic new products, but to pick the right fantastic new products to create.
This is where Amelio impressed. As National Semiconductor’s CEO, he returned a company that lost $320 million over four years to profitability.
Unlike operations-led Apple CEOs (John Sculley and Tim Cook spring to mind), Amelio possessed a strong engineering background. While a Ph.D. student, he helped invent the charge-coupled device, or CCD, which formed the basis for future scanners and digital cameras.
Amelio’s connection to Cupertino resulted from National Semiconductor’s role as a big Apple supplier. Amelio continued at National Semiconductor until he assumed Apple’s CEO role in 1996. But nobody considered it a conflict of interest for him to join Apple’s board while simultaneously heading a company that did business with Cupertino.
The most memorable thing from Amelio’s eventual 500-day stint running Apple as CEO — aside from overseeing Apple’s biggest-ever losses — was the fact that Apple bought NeXT while under his leadership. That ultimately brought back Steve Jobs to steer the Apple ship.
Oh, and possibly Amelio’s infamous nautical-themed blooper, as related by Jobs in the video below. Amelio supposedly compared Apple to a ship with a gaping hole in its hull, then said his job was to ensure it sailed in the right direction.
Daily round-ups or a weekly refresher, straight from Cult of Mac to your inbox.
Our daily roundup of Apple news, reviews and how-tos. Plus the best Apple tweets, fun polls and inspiring Steve Jobs bons mots. Our readers say: "Love what you do" — Christi Cardenas. "Absolutely love the content!" — Harshita Arora. "Genuinely one of the highlights of my inbox" — Lee Barnett.
The week's best Apple news, reviews and how-tos from Cult of Mac, every Saturday morning. Our readers say: "Thank you guys for always posting cool stuff" — Vaughn Nevins. "Very informative" — Kenly Xavier.
