Strikingly, Apple’s Mr Jobs was an exception, having distanced himself from Apple after being ousted in a boardroom battle in 1985—a separation that may have contributed to his second-act success.

Zhao Zizhong, a professor at the Communication University of China, said the whole incident was likely staged in a bid to get attention.

Mr Jobs is famously unsentimental, and took being forced out of Apple as an opportunity to think afresh.