Steve Wozniak in major health scare

November 9, 2023 Siyabonga Mtangana

Steve Wozniak. Image: Stephen Lam/Reuters

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was hospitalized in Mexico City on Wednesday due to a possible stroke, Mexican media outlets reported, but a TMZ report citing sources suggested the illness was potentially a less serious bout of vertigo.

The 73-year-old scientist and tech entrepreneur was scheduled to participate in a World Business Forum event in the Mexican capital’s Santa Fe neighbourhood on Wednesday afternoon.

Event organisers did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Wozniak had been set to speak at the conference at 4.20pm local time. Reports that Wozniak had been hospitalised could not immediately be independently verified.

US media outlet TMZ, citing sources with direct knowledge of the situation, reported that Wozniak finished his speech but then told his wife he was “feeling strange”. She reportedly insisted he go to the hospital.

The TMZ report said Wozniak may have suffered vertigo.

In the 1976, Wozniak founded the fledgling Apple Computer company along with his more famous business partner Steve Jobs, the acclaimed investor and longtime Apple CEO who died in 2011.

Their business pioneered personal computing and went on to be the world’s most valuable company, known for the design and functionality of a range of consumer electronics, including laptop and desktop computers, and the iPhone mobile phone.