Michael Spindler

Michael Spindler (22 December 1942 to 5 September 2016) was a German businessman who served as president and chief executive officer of Apple from 1993 to 1996. Born in Berlin, he graduated in engineering from the Technical University in Cologne in 1964 and worked at Digital Equipment Corporation and Intel before joining Apple's European office in 1980, after Mike Markkula brought him over to help with marketing. He rose through Apple's European operations as President of Apple Europe and then President of Apple International, and in January 1990 John Sculley appointed him chief operating officer. He was nicknamed The Diesel for his work ethic. On 15 October 1993 the board chose him as chief executive when Sculley was ousted. His tenure included the introduction of the PowerPC as well as the failures of the Newton and the Copland operating system, and he made large cost cuts, including layoffs. Merger talks with IBM, Sun Microsystems and Philips went nowhere, and Gil Amelio replaced him on 2 February 1996. Afterwards he worked at Upstart Capital, Daimler-Benz and Bertelsmann and served as a trustee of the American Film Institute.