Perot no stranger at Next Computer. (H. Ross Perot holds minority stake)

Texas billionaire owns a big hunk of Steve Jobs' controversial startup

REDWOOD CITY -- Only in California can a crusading politician pose a question that strikes at the foundation of corporate America: What happens when a minority shareholder becomes president? Of the country, that is.

For Next Computer, an upstart trying to upstage the technology industry, the question hardly seems academic. Ross Perot, the only man to ever become a billionaire, a homespun folk hero and an investor in Next, would have won a three-way race against President Bush and Bill Clinton, the assured democratic nominee.

Exit polls conducted on June 2 by the major television networks showed that California voters -- closely watched as a bellwether of the national psyche -- approved of Perot over Bush by a 2-to-1 margin.

To be fair, …