Apple had sufficient capital at that time to execute Jobs' plan, especially since step 1 was to cut most of what Apple was doing. The significant part of the M

Apple had sufficient capital at that time to execute Jobs' plan, especially since step 1 was to cut most of what Apple was doing. The significant part of the MS deal was the patent cross licensing and commitment to continue producing Mac versions of Office and IE. Those created certainty in the market about the viability of the Mac platform. The investment was just to cement that commitment and certainty. I'm sure there was an anti-trust angle, but also Bill Gates just really liked the Mac as a platform and did not want it to fail. He had one in his office at Microsoft from the day it was released.