Definition of Irony: Steve Jobs' Trust gets richer from sales of DROID branded phones

Steve Jobs threatened a "thermonuclear war" to destroy the Android platform, which he considered a "stolen product". Yet, in an ironic turn of events, the Steve P. Jobs Trust managed by his wife could make money from the sale of each Android flavored Motorola DROID branded phone. How did this happen? When Steve Jobs helped arrange the sale of Pixar to the Walt Disney Company on January 24th 2006, the $7.4 billion deal was an all-stock transaction. Jobs' Pixar holdings were converted into Disney shares, leaving him with 7.7% ownership of the Burbank company. That meant that Steve Jobs was the largest individual shareholder of Disney.

After Jobs' death, his shares were transferred to the Steven P. Jobs Trust which is managed by Jobs' wife. The Trust is now the largest individual owner of Disney shares. Disney, as you might have heard, has purchased Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion. Back in 2009, George Lucas had made a deal with Verizon for the use of the DROID name. This is why overseas versions of the same Motorola phones do not use the DROID moniker. On most ads or documents related to a Motorola DROID phone, you will see the statement "DROID is a trademark of Lucasfilm Ltd. and its related companies. Used under license."

So what does this all mean? It means that Disney will now get the licensing fees and royalties from Verizon for using the DROID name which could result in a higher stock price. And who benefits the most from a higher price for Disney shares? That would be the company's largest shareholder, the Steve P. Jobs Trust. Despite his deep and profound hatred of the platform, sales of Motorola DROID handsets could make Steve Jobs richer. That is irony. Of course, Jobs can't spend a penny of this windfall which is another irony, albeit a sadder one.

source: Forbes

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