Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of the late Apple founder Steve Jobs, is Donald Trump‘s latest target on Twitter. The president suggested that the media mogul, who owns a majority stake in The Atlantic, was “wasting” her late husband’s money on the publication. It comes just days after the outlet published an article claiming that Trump called veterans who were killed in the war “suckers” and “losers”. The president reportedly made disparaging comments belittling the nation’s veterans during a visit to Paris in 2018. It was also claimed that he said it was “not a good look” to include the “wounded guys” in a July 4 military parade.
In response to the article, published September 4, Trump tweeted, “Steve Jobs would not be happy that his wife is wasting money he left her on a failing Radical Left Magazine that is run by a con man (Goldberg) and spews FAKE NEWS & HATE,” he began, referencing Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor of the publication who wrote the story. “Call her, write her, let her know how you feel!!!” Here are 5 things to know about Laurene.
1. She’s a highly educated woman who now owns a 160-year-old publication. Just like how Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post and Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes bought The New Republic, Laurene Powell Jobs became the latest tech billionaire to acquire a media company. The wife of the late Steve Jobs bought the majority stake in The Atlantic from David G. Bradley on July 28, 2017 according to The New York Times. David will remain a minority stakeholder while running the 160-year-old magazine for the next three to five years.
After realizing none of his three sons were interested in owning The Atlantic, David said his staff devised a list of 600 potential investors. “Who next will take stewardship of this 160-year-old national treasure? To me, the answer, in the form of Laurene, feels incomparably right,” he said in a statement. After all, she’s quite qualified to run the organization. Laurene has a B.A. degree in political science from the University of Pennsylvania, a B.S. degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a MBA from Stanford.
2. The Atlantic is not the first media company she’s invested in. Laurene bought The Atlantic through her organization Emerson Collective. The organization is “dedicated to removing barriers to opportunity so people can live to their full potential,” according to its website. The organization focuses on education, the environment, immigration, and social justice issues. In pursuit of this mission, Emerson (and Laurene) have invested in several nonprofit journalism organizations like Mother Jones, Marshall Project and ProPublica.
3. She’s a philanthropist. Laurene co-founded College Track in 1997, a nonprofit organization to improve high school graduation and college enrollment among impoverished students. When Steve Jobs died in 2011, due to complications stemming from pancreatic cancer, Laurene inherited the Steven P. Jobs trust. Forbes lists her at being worth $20 billion, and she hasn’t been sitting on that fortune. She has used it to push for the Dream Act, a legislation that would provide legal status to immigrants who arrived in the USA as children. She has also funded humanitarian causes in Africa, including Ben Affleck’s Eastern Congo Initiative and the Conservation International.
4. She met Steve Jobs when he spoke at her college. It was love at first site for Lauren and Steve. In 1989, Steve gave a speech at Stanford and by chance, he and Laurene ended up sitting next to each other. “I looked to my right, and there was a beautiful girl there, so we started chatting a bit while I was waiting to be introduced,” Steve said when talking to Walter Isacson, the author of the Steve Jobs biography, per The New York Times. Before his death, they would have three children – son Reed and daughter Erin and Eve.
5. Laurene dated a former DC mayor. After losing her husband, she was romantically involved with Adrian Fenty. Though their first photo together was in 2015, there were rumors that they have been together since 2013. Adrian served as the mayor of Washington D.C. from 2007 to 2011.
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