RSSIs Apple's business health tied to that of its CEO?
By Ed Oswald | Published July 23, 2008, 5:26 PM
Concerns over Steve Jobs' health continue to dog the company, and its attempts to quell such discussion seem to be falling mostly on deaf ears.
The issue cropped up once again during Apple's financial results call Monday when Lehman Brothers financial analyst Ben Reitzes said he was forced to ask for an official statement from the company on Jobs' health.
He claimed that several clients had expressed concern following a spate of reports on the CEO's appearance, which has become increasingly gaunt in recent public appearances.
Apple's response couldn't have been any more unclear. "Steve loves Apple. He serves at the pleasure of Apple's board," financial chief Peter Oppenheimer responded. "He has no plans to leave Apple. Steve's health is a private matter."
That apparently wasn't good enough for Wall Street. Immediately following the call, Apple's stock tanked. Closing Monday at $165.90, on Tuesday morning the stock opened at $149.97, and took the entire day plus Wednesday morning to recover.
Analysts are not sure if the decline had to do with the health issue, or was related to the shrinking gross margins that the company expects as part of an "upcoming product transition."
Jobs is fighting back against the talk, telling people close to him that his ill health has been exaggerated in the media, the New York Times reports. He has apparently told associates that he is doing well after the bout of pancreatic cancer he had an operation to remove.
Another surgical procedure occurred earlier this year to deal with the weight loss issue. Jobs' appearance at WWDC was explained as a "common bug," and sources said he ran a high fever for a week before the event that nearly caused him to cancel his appearance.
Financial companies are arguing that the concerns are valid. In a note to clients, Deustche Bank said that "while the topic is delicate, we believe the absence of a straightforward denial of health issues will increase speculation of worst case scenario."
Peter Cohan in a post for BloggingStocks echoed Deustche Bank's argument. "Apple's silence is making investors nervous since it's not likely that anyone can do as good a job as [Jobs]," he argued. "Apple's board may have a duty to report on Jobs' health if he can't perform his duties."
Just wait for the upgrade patch and all will be peachy!
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|funny mate, good sense of humor. Hope the man is OK.
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|It's simple business\economics and nothing to do with the media.
The CEO is after all the Chief Executive Officer for a firm which in the case of Apple is a public company and the reposnsibilities of the CEO are to all the shareholders and their interests.
If the CEO is unable to perform his\her duties it is their reposnsibility to step aside and let someone else take the reigns rather than let the company suffer.
Not making the state of play clear could lead to some uncomfortable explaining to be done on the part of Apple in the event that they haven't been completely honest about who is performing the role of CEO.
You have to remember there are lots of rules and regulations that govern how a business is run so as those that are shareholders etc don't get screwed over by a badly run firm otherwise everyone would float their firm, make loads of money y selling their original stakeholder shares and then let their companies go down the pan.
Apple needs Jobs cos without him Apple would no longer have the ideas man leading the way and so the shares would plummit as other's have mentioned when he hasn't been there.
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|That's the point. A company is not healthy if it solely relies on one person - in fact it is pathetic in an organization of this size. I don't believe all the media hype about personalities and whatever else they feel inclined to write about for the lack of meaningful content but Jobs failed his corporate duties to shareholders if he did not set up a structure that can support the organization should he come to harm.
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|"Apple's board may have a duty to report on Jobs' health if he can't perform his duties."
'May' and 'If'. Honestly, if he is able to continue with his responsibilities, then give the guy some privacy. Lord knows, nothing helps the body recover faster than a media frenzy.
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|No need to worry. Here's the real scoop on Steve Job's health thank God:
http://macdailynews.com/...p/weblog/comments/17956/
You can read the full article at N.Y. Times
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|Just get Jobs to say "Hi, I'm fine, stop being such twats" and everything would fix itself.
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|Thanks for that link. That's good to know.
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|He just works. Still he's no match to the living God of Microsoft.
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|Mac daily news and the New York Times? Such reliable sources.
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|"Is Apple's business health tied to that of its CEO?"
Yes. We've seen this on the stock market.
When he announced he was over his cancer the stocks rose 2.6%.
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