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Steve Jobs Takes Leave of Absence From Apple
An anonymous reader writes with this excerpt from Network World: "A number of sites are reporting that Apple's CEO Steve Jobs is taking a leave of absence till June at least. Speculation over Jobs' possibly failing health has run rampant in the past few weeks. Prior to the recent MacWorld show, Jobs said he had a hormone deficiency that had caused him to dramatically lose weight. In a memo today Jobs told workers his health issues are more complex than he thought." Reader Bastian227 adds a link to this letter from Steve Jobs on Apple's website, which also says that Tim Cook will be responsible for daily operations, though Jobs will remain involved with major strategic decisions.
An appropriate tag
That's usually when WWDC happens. I think he's planning on doing that keynote.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
beat
Love 'em or hate 'em, he's changed a lot in the tech sector. His presence will be missed.
æeee!
He had to lose weight and do hormone therapy before all of the bionic implants could go in...
the market says "sell sell sell!"
watching the stock price collapse is almost funny if it wasnt so sad
.
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/01/05/steve-jobss-health-what-the-pancreas-has-to-do-with-weight-loss/
He's busted his hump over the last few years. He deserves some time off to focus on himself and his family.
.. next we are going to have a post telling us steve's stool isn't a healthy colour. seriously people, post something news worthy for once.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
It is a sad day.
6 Months = Chemo
Here's to a long life for Mr. Jobs.
Meat is good for you, and good for AAPL. Now, it's gonners for the both of yous.
I expect another record earnings report for Q1, so I'm grabbing as many February $95 calls as I can afford.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
having the keynote delivered by a head in a jar?
SELL SELL SELL!!!
And best wishes for Mr. Job's health in the future.
But, SELL SELL SELL!
Would it be safe to say that there is a Jobs opening at Apple?
Or would that be Steve closing?
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
This is all just part of the build-up for what will be the most astounding corporate marketing stunt of all time: the death and resurrection of Steve Jobs.
OS X continues to be niche OS just like when he took over with the most exciting news about Macs over the past few years has been that you can run another company's OS on them.
The huge success of the iPod is nothing more than a footnote as cellphones are taking over the predominate role of portable media devices. Microsoft is looking to phase out their Zune efforts as the market is not going to be worth bothering with a few years from now.
And, yeah, 'teh iPhone'. Millions of emo Starbucks drinking retards posting their unboxing vids on youtube and looking for every single possible way they can somehow work their phone into their conversations to try to make it clear just how 'special' they are.
The amazing Palm Pre unveiling shows just how irrelevant Apple is to the computing world outside of endless and tiresome hype. And bullshit about 'changing a lot in teh tech sector'...
If he was going for six months of chemo, he wouldn't be talking about returning in six months. More like a year. I think he's taking the leave between now and the next major event, which would be WWDC.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Steve Jobs is dying
you heard it here first, well, 2nd right after Netcraft
best wishes in the next life, Steve!!
... Apple now has the thinnest, lightest CEO on the market.
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
The AIDS tag? Seriously? I've never heard anyone shopping around a rumor that Jobs has AIDS.
Even with the prospect of Jobs having of an extended absence from the day-to-day at Apple I think we will see the company continue to do fine, or at least continue on their existing business path.
While leadership is a key element of business success, so is having a well balanced team of professionals driving your development/innovation teams.
I have to image Apple has this balance in their organization.
Funny thing about Pancreatic Cancer. It can easily cause a "hormone imbalance" because the pancreas secretes essential hormones like insulin. Pancreatic cancer is also usually incurable once it is diagnosed, with a less than 5% 5 year survival rate.
He's as good as dead. Let's move on, shall we?
"Jobs said he had a hormone deficiency that had caused him to dramatically lose weight..."
In related news...
Shareholders show that a Common Sense Deficiency(CSD) causes them to dramatically lose faith in Apple whenever the mere thought of their beloved Steve leaving in any way, shape, or form is mentioned...
Man, I would love to short sell about $20,000 worth of AAPL tomorrow.
Now they can get ready to slide Stevie boy in the company freezer next to Walt.
"I guess the moral of the story is, don't paint your airship with rocket fuel." -- Addison Bain
I wish him well. As someone who had to retire at age 33 to fight cancer, I know how discouraging it is to have your body spoil what your brain wants to do. But I also found that giving up the full-time job really did improve my health and led to greater productivity in my remaining activities.
He was already missed before even leaving, as recent speculation testifies.
Math is beautiful... e^(pi*i)+1=0
Oblig.:
The Dead Collector: Bring out yer dead.
[a man puts a body on the cart]
Large Man with Dead Body: Here's one.
The Dead Collector: That'll be ninepence.
Steve Jobs: I'm not dead.
The Dead Collector: What?
Large Man with Dead Body: Nothing. There's your ninepence.
Steve Jobs: I'm not dead.
The Dead Collector: 'Ere, he says he's not dead.
Large Man with Dead Body: Yes he is.
Steve Jobs: I'm not.
The Dead Collector: He isn't.
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill.
Steve Jobs: I'm getting better.
Large Man with Dead Body: No you're not, you'll be stone dead in a moment.
The Dead Collector: Well, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations.
Steve Jobs: I don't want to go on the cart.
Large Man with Dead Body: Oh, don't be such a baby.
The Dead Collector: I can't take him.
Steve Jobs: I feel fine.
Large Man with Dead Body: Oh, do me a favor.
The Dead Collector: I can't.
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, can you hang around for a couple of minutes? He won't be long.
The Dead Collector: I promised I'd be at the Robinsons'. They've lost nine today.
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, when's your next round?
The Dead Collector: Thursday.
Steve Jobs: I think I'll go for a walk.
Large Man with Dead Body: You're not fooling anyone, you know. Isn't there anything you could do?
Steve Jobs: I feel happy. I feel happy.
[the Dead Collector glances up and down the street furtively, then silences Jobs with his a whack of his club]
Large Man with Dead Body: Ah, thank you very much. ...
The Dead Collector: Not at all. See you on Thursday.
Large Man with Dead Body: Right.
Too soon?
Seems like a good idea for Steve to take some time. It gives him a chance to see how well Cook handles the shop when no major new products are shipping and seems to indicate that he is at least semi-comfortable that he's got the right management to oversee day-to-day operations, and gives them a chance to fine-tune anything should he want to retire or passes away pre-maturely. As die-hard as he is, I can't imagine him doing the keynotes if he is too frail (physically) to "wow" the crowd.
Since the major aesthetic overhall in the iMac, MBP and MB lines in the past year or two, and OS X 10.6 shaping up to be a smaller update (aesthetically and technically) to 10.5 than the 10.4->10.5 jump was; it doesn't appear that there is going to be much "new business" from now to then. Maybe some hardware line updates to faster chips, and some 10.5.x updates; but nothing major. I'd imagine 10.6 won't even ship until summer; just in time for the WWDC in June.
Forgive my spelling from time to time. I'm often posting during short breaks.
I should stop drinking at work.
"I guess the moral of the story is, don't paint your airship with rocket fuel." -- Addison Bain
http://xkcd.com/527/
And I'll BUY BUY BUY tomorrow... do you seriously think anything has fundamentally changed in Apple's business? It still remains to be seen.
Well, yeah, something fundamental has changed. Steve Jobs won't be there. Look at Apple's history. That makes all the difference in the world.
When the guy does die... whenever that is... it's going to be earth shattering in the tech sector, and you'll never see anything like it in this business again. Jobs is the Elvis of the computing business. When he goes, you'll see people weeping on TV. Silly or not, that's the way it will be. And the endless speculation for months (and years) will be "Can Apple survive without Steve Jobs?".
Life is hard, and the world is cruel
I'm going to make a /. post next time Michael Morhaime (head of Blizzard) is hung over. Honestly, what other CEOs get this cult level of worship?
I'll bet there will be no returning for Jobs. Sad news but a lesson to all. A company should never be about "A" person. None of us are eternal.
Oh come on, coondoggie, don't be so modest!
Regardless of the trolling and fanboyism, I for one would like to wish him well and hope he gets better in due time. Enjoy your rest, Steve, and get well soon!
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken.
And not the kind from Motley Fool either.
"AAPL
85.33 -2.38 (-2.71%) Jan 14 4:00pm ET
Open: 86.24
High: 87.25
Low: 84.67
Volume: 37,805,239
Avg Vol: 31,669,000
Mkt Cap: 75.90B
After Hours: 80.00 -5.33 (-6.25%) Jan 14 6:24pm ET"
The after hours drop is said to be directly attributed to Jobs health, according to pundits.
I am not a pundit, but I agree with their assessment.
"The government grants you rights, not the other way around."-- beav007. Yes, these people really exist...
For Mr. Jobs, the advice is simple. An Apple a day is what you need to keep the doctor away.
Then who is going to take care of him?
Know your pads. One time pad: good for cryptography. Two timing pad: where to take your mistress.
Apple chief executive Steve Jobs, 53, announced Monday he was being treated for a "hormone imbalance" but would remain head of the company.
"I found myself unable to give the Macworld keynote," said Jobs, "but my truly spectacular rack will be well worth the hormonal rages. It's like six months of PMS, though my engineers will tell you thereâ(TM)s hardly a difference."
The keynote, presented by Pamela Anderson and Jenna Jameson, introduced the new iKini and iFront lingerie range, in signature translucent white, with eight gigabytes of music storage and 3G phone connectivity. "Left one for signal strength, right one for network."
Jobs noted that his decision not to give the Macworld keynote had set off a "flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed." To restore investor confidence, he has been fitted with a full set of cybernetic implants providing full live data on his bodily functions, broadcast in sideband data on the Disney Channel and downloadable daily on iTunes.
Bill Gates pooh-poohed the iFront range, offering his new Zunewear "Carrot" Macho Dude-Pants, which would make you look better "every day of the year" (except December 31st) and "show off your Ballmers like never before. DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! I'M A PEE-CEEEE!"
http://rocknerd.co.uk
Apple dipped 10% in afterhours. But now it's back up from that to just -6%.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
...We need MORE POWER to the REALITY DISTORTION FIELD, now!
No.
If the company is sound, this will be a short term drop follwed by a recovery. If you own shares, and think AAPL is sound without Jobs, then selling makes no sense. Instead, you should be buying the discounted shares in anticipation of a recovery, which is what strong companies do.
On the other hand, if you think AAPL is not strong without Jobs, then WTF were you doing buying AAPL in the first place?
In short, you are making the same mistake all amateurs make.
And no, I'm not a pro, but this point has been emphasized enough, and proven accurate enough, that I take it as correct.
"The government grants you rights, not the other way around."-- beav007. Yes, these people really exist...
Of course, you have to buy for him to be able to sell. Someone a lot smarter than you will buy from you later after Steve dies and the stock loses 9/10 of it's (nominal) value, but only if it looks like there's leadership that can allow the company continue for long enough for investors to realize they overestimated Steve's role in the company. Say 2 years from now?
Rich people think about the day after tomorrow. Now is not a good time to buy. This stock has nowhere to go but down until at least a few months after Steve is no longer with us. Even then, it will only be worth something if they pull off a successful transition.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green
bay Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
to be able to up and take a 6 month leave of absence. Of course, his salary is only $1.00, so he's only looking at a 50 cent pay cut if he doesn't get "paid," but I'm betting his "bonuses" and stock options will all remain in full effect.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
Wrong Steve you idiot! I said the one whose company makes personal computing a living hell, not the cool dude whose company gave us the MAC and the iPod!!
Two are still minors. He will spend some time with them.
wank wank wank wank wank, I think I just come
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/090114/apple_jobs.html has an article on it.
This is just Apple's plan to get rid of him....again.
I just don't see that Jobs going changes the fundamentals of the company all that much. I think Apple at the current price is a great buy, and if it tanks tomorrow, it is a great buy. Time to take some money out of bonds :)
"He who would learn astronomy, and other recondite arts, let him go elsewhere. " -- John Calvin, commenting on Genesis 1
For those unaware...
A put option is a guarantee for the holder of the put option to be able to sell something at a specified price.
So, even if the price goes down, he still gets to cash in on the sell price offered by the put option.
He could even buy new stock at the now-lowered price, and sell it at the option price.
Call options are similarly advantageous when the stock is going up.
Long means he owns a positive amount of them. (as opposed to owing someone else AAPL put options)
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
There are still non-performers at Apple. MobileMe is screwing the pooch and has been since the dot-mac days. Also, who the hell are the bozos vetting iPhone apps?
A far as Steve's Health goes, economists and epidemiologists can predict when you are going to die with something like an 85% certainty. Basically, almost everyone experiences a 7X increase in health care costs, and then is dead in two years. Things don't look so good for Steve. This is too bad, because he's done a lot for the computing world.
Sorry for Jobs but Apple's declining stock price should be a lesson for those who lionized his management style.
I am happy to see abusive, controlling and dictatorial behavior shown up to be bad due to the problem that every dictator encounters: the lack of a successor.
I think it's hyperthyroidism. It not only matches the symptoms, but it also matches his statements and explains why he didn't know he needed a chunk of tine off until this week. He's probably on a therapy to burn out his thyroid entirely now.
Your mistake was not to do explicit capital allocation in your portfolio to that Apple stock. Basically, you should have explicitly planned to keep your Apple stake within a certain size; either an absolute size ("I will hold no more than $10,000 on AAPL at any one time") or as a percentage of your portfolio ("I will hold no more than 5% of my portfolio on AAPL"). Then, when the stock skyrocketed, you should have sold shares to account for the excess value of your holding relative to your planned cap.
Anyway, AAPL closed at 85.33 today. If you paid $50 for it, that's a 70% total return. Looking at the stock prices chart, AAPL was around that level at the following times: Sep. 2005 and Jul. 2006. In the former case, that's about a 17.41% annualized return; in the latter, it's about 23.84%. You haven't done badly in any sense. Just do make sure that you set a good rule for when to sell, and follow it strictly and mechanically.
Are you adequate?
Frankly, in a choice between buying stock in a company with good numbers like Citibank or Enron and buying a stock in a company with Warren Buffet at the helm, like Berkshire-Hathaway, I would take Warren Buffet.
But that's just me.
It's somewhat of a coincidence because jobs will take a leave of absence in America for six months, too.
Have a friend going for a second try on parathyroid (and now maybe thyroid) tumor surgery next week. It is my understanding the tumor is non-malignant but the tissue is literally indistinguishable by eye from healthy tissue and needs a marker. They have to figure out a 3D "eyeball" of it with a radiation counter after they slit the throat open. First try, they just didn't feel they had the parameters so they closed up and they're going in again.
I'm kind of sick of facts
Fixed that for you. Facts:
1. Apple was the first to use a micro hard drive.
2. Everything else was either a tiny flash memory player (64 megs) or used a heavy desktop drive.
3. Apple used 400 Mbps Firewire when everyone else used 11 Mbps USB 1.1.
4. They had a good hardware/software interface.
As to point #4, I remember a nice Penny Arcade strip from way back (which unfortunately I can't find right now) where Jonathan asks Tycho how well Musicmatch staked up against iTunes. It went something like this:
Tycho: Imagine iTunes as a fresh orange, glistening with morning dew...
Johnathan: Okay...."
Tycho: And Musicmatch is a bag filled with dog poop.
Johnathan: Yuck! Dog poop isn't even food!
Tycho: Exactly.
no really, you're hilarious.
If "living hard" had guaranteed consequences, he wouldn't be playing gigs...
Smoking doesn't guarantee lung cancer either. That doesn't mean it's unrelated.
The details are trivial and useless; The reasons, as always, purely human ones.
If it were truly serious, Apple Board would not be doing their fiduciary duty to keep it a secret. What I'm amazed at is the interesting timing, which has been one of Jobs' key strengths since his return to Apple. With the economy in a lull and no serious threat from rival companies, and major products for the year already planned and in works - if there is a good time to step aside to take a break and also evaluate his succession team's performance while alive - this is it. Don't count out Apple's penchant for drama and marketing, using Jobs return mid-year to boost other product announcements and take the wind out of the sail of every other tech company again. What does Arnie say as the Terminator...?
Paging House
We need you here in Cupertino. Our CEO has a bad case of somethin fierce. Please, please, please hep us, hep us now, House.
Wacked out doctors eyes only
http://images.celebritymoviearchive.com/members/thumbs/l/LisaEdelstein@House-2-CMA.jpg
I heard that the Messiah is taking office soon.
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucagonoma
Statistics is a bitch.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Probe it keemosabee.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
I am Steve's pancreas. I get cancer, I kill Steve.
Just a point... have you ever returned your CFL lightbulbs for warranty replacement? Umm... and did you make sure to follow the postal regulations for shipping hazardous materials?
Did you make sure to get the Circuit City Extended Warranty for your Christmas gifts?
Did you make sure to check whether Circuit City was even there this month?
So unlocking the iPhone invalidates a bunch of nonsense that is only worth whatever the company wants it to be worth, later, minus whatever penalty they want to apply to you, to "discourage frivoulous complaints"...
And you still have a problem with invalidating a warranty?
Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
I thought it sounded dubious when i first heard it.
Either he has got another neuroendocrine tumor or his thyroid is completely whacked out.
Anyway, here is a hopeless plug... go to
>www.thecyberdoctor.com
And post a diagnosis for in the case of the 53 year old ceo with a hormone imbalance :P
One thing I haven't seen anywhere is who will be taking over Steve's responsibility for the next 5-6 months that he is out.
Perhaps John Sculley will be getting a call...not!
"During My Service In The United States Congress, I Took The Initiative In Creating The Internet." -Al Gore
NB: This post may contain USA-centric content.
Ever since Lawrence v. Texas, AIDS has lost its stigma because the behavior of the demographic associated with its primary mode of transmission has been decriminalized. However, it has long since been destigmatized by those who drive the culture. What if Mr. Jobs indeed has HIV and the virus mutates so as to defeat available treatments and he succumbs to the complications thereof? With his wealth and status (documents shall having been altered and/or destroyed), we will never know for sure, so I would side with the argument of "presumed so until proven otherwise to a criminal standard".
If it were ever made public that he had an alternate sexuality, what is the big deal? It would only make sense and thus bolster the suspicion that Apple products and creative people share something in common.
No court can ever criminalize one's right to be disgusted when evil is called "good" and good is called "evil".
"One thing I haven't seen anywhere is who will be taking over Steve's responsibility for the next 5-6 months that he is out"
"I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple's day to day operations"
davecb5620@gmail.com
At least, not as we know it.
Last week, when Steve Jobs announced that his recent weight loss was due to "a hormone imbalance," I got calls from reporters and others (which, I must admit, I ducked) asking me if that was the medical problem he had confessed to when he and I had had our infamous phone call last summer -- the one where he called me a slime bucket and denied that he had a recurrence of cancer. The answer is no, it wasn't. It was something else -- which of course I still can't disclose because the conversation was off the record.
http://executivesuite.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/its-time-for-apple-to-come-clean/?hp
This has caused at least one reputable news source to report that Steve Jobs is dying of AIDS.
Futurist Traditionalism
Bring back the Woz. Result.
Since that 'my health is perfectly fine' letter is increasingly looking like BS, he better hope he doesn't get sued for making a material misrepresentation to the shareholders.
For about 1 in 130 people in the US, eating gluten can lead to rapid weight loss and malabsorption of food (like Steve). If you're a vegetarian, this is a bit of a pain due to the prevalence of gluten in fake meat products.
I doubt this is what Steve has, but Celiac disease is often a suspect after mysterious weight loss. The reason I don't think he has it is because diagnosis does not usually include time off from work.
It is not uncommon for people to discover they have it late in life due to ambiguous/absent symptoms and general lack of awareness among doctors. Ironically, diagnosis is pretty straightforward. A simple blood test followed by an endoscope, if necessary. Treatment is very simple - don't eat gluten.
" - Apple Inc. (NASDAQ)
81.70 -3.63 (-4.25%) Jan 15 12:58pm ET
Open: 80.50
High: 82.59
Low: 80.05
Volume: 39,310,466
Avg Vol: 31,577,000
Mkt Cap: 72.67B"
Hmm, Looks like I was EXACTLY RIGHT.
Where's the snide comment now boy?
"The government grants you rights, not the other way around."-- beav007. Yes, these people really exist...
" - Apple Inc. (NASDAQ)
81.70 -3.63 (-4.25%) Jan 15 12:58pm ET
Open: 80.50
High: 82.59
Low: 80.05
Volume: 39,310,466
Avg Vol: 31,577,000
Mkt Cap: 72.67B"
I'll revisit this at closing, and I'll still be right.
People like you never think someone else might be better at this than you, but I am and now you know it.
"The government grants you rights, not the other way around."-- beav007. Yes, these people really exist...
I thought the same thing as well. I have celiac disease, as do my mother and sister. It takes an average of 11 years of being misdiagnosed before they hit upon celiac as the cause of health problems (can't cite -- sorry), however this is hopefully changing as awareness grows.
Some people do have 'refractory sprue', where the the damage done to the intestine from ingesting gluten doesn't heal. This is rare, but can be a huge problem. If this was his case, I can see it necessitating time off. (Joe C from Kid Rock's band had these types of complications if I'm not mistaken. I do know his cause of death is listed as complications from celiac disease, so I'd guess that's the case).
However if he has run of the mill celiac, it would be a pretty minor deal -- at least for someone with the cash for a personal chef, someone to shop for him, etc.
Sweet informative mod.
If he does not get paid, I wonder what his prorated salary will be? $.50?
... Apple now has the thinnest, lightest CEO on the market.
Unfortunately, due to a design decision, you'll have to replace him every so often because you can't replace just the battery.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Were you frothing at the mouth while you wrote that? Feel the urge to throw a few chairs around?