Nikola Tesla, the inventor of our modern electrical distribution system, once worked for Thomas Edison. Edison promised Tesla $50,000 if he could make some improvements to Edison's DC generation plants. Tesla succeeded in making the improvements, but Edison refused to pay him, saying his offer had just been a joke:
http://www.pbs.org/tesla/ll/ll_america.html
Steve Wozniak, the inventor of the modern personal computer, was asked by Steve Jobs to help build a scaled down version of Pong for Atari. There was a big bonus involved in getting it done quickly and efficiently, and Jobs lied about how much money was involved, pocketing the majority of the money for himself:
http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-jerk-2011-10#he-short-changed-his-best-friend-on-a-bonus-9
Edison and Jobs did quite well for themselves financially, while Tesla and Woz didn't do as well (Tesla died in poverty).
Edison and Jobs are recognized as tech giants, while the contributions of Tesla and Woz appear to have been greatly downplayed.
The moral of the story? I could say something nasty about Edison and Jobs, but I'll let you form your own opinion about them. I'll just leave you with this:
In business, no one is your "friend". Always get it in writing and have an independent auditor verify the numbers.
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