&gt; Apple was on the brink of going out of business when Steve returned and stayed in business because Gates and Ballmer provided Apple with $150M to stay in business - a wise move at the time because Microsoft was in trouble with the justice department and needed to ensure that there were companies still in existence that could even vaguely be argued to be valid competitors to Microsoft.<p>I&#x27;m tired of this myth being propagated. The $150MM wasn&#x27;t even the most important part of the deal for Apple: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.zdnet.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;stop-the-lies-the-day-that-microsoft-saved-apple&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.zdnet.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;stop-the-lies-the-day-that-micr...</a>