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SCOTT KIDDER — Steve Jobs is one of the Valley's most famous comeback kids. Kicked to the curb by Apple in the 1980s, Jobs went on to buy The Graphics Group for $5 million — now known as Pixar, sold to the Walt Disney Company for $7.4 billion. He also founded NeXT computer, only to have it bought by Apple some ten years later for $402 million, bringing him back to the company that he had resigned from some ten years earlier.

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And so he embraced the company he co-founded and so rudely kicked him out, appointed as an interim CEO just a little over a year after his return. He even agreed to take a token salary of $1 a year while he turned things around, which he has since kept — not including, of course, the lavish "executive gifts" he receives from the board, such as Gulfstream jets. Even today, Jobs holds the record for "Lowest Paid Chief Executive Officer" in the Guinness Book of World Records.

And turn things around he has — just look at the stock!

But how does Steve do it? What is the secret to his success? We here at Valleywag have the answer: it's his stool, which he allegedly requires to be "present at all worldwide company events that he attends, as well as outbound speaking engagements that are designed stool-appropriate."

Our tipster explains:

With annual Mac Nuremberg rally just around the corner I thought I'd drop a line on an interesting tid-bid I just heard about His Steveness. We all know about his size 14 feet and shifting allegiances to bottled water.......

We can now also confirm that The Dear Mac Leader has a special stool. It's three-legged, designer (natch) and is his special friend on long business trips in the company jet: he requires the stool be present at all worldwide company events that he attends as well as outbound speaking engagements that are designated "stool-appropriate". Let's hear it for the hardest working stool in Silicon Valley!

Do you know any more about this stool? Photos? Other stories? Are we just full of shit? Let's hear about it: tips@valleywag.com.