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July 23, 2008 8:55 AM PDT
Talk of chief's health weighs on Apple's share price
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That is what Jobs, Apple's chief executive, has been telling a number of his associates, even as concerns about his health have weighed on the company's stock price.
The latest flurry of talk was set off on Monday when, in a conference call after the release of Apple's earnings, a company executive responded to a question about Jobs' condition by saying that it was "a private matter."
But in recent weeks, Jobs has reassured several people that he is doing well and that four years after a successful operation to treat a rare form of pancreatic cancer, he is cancer free.
People who are close to Jobs say that he had a surgical procedure this year to address a problem that was contributing to a loss of weight. These people declined to be identified because Jobs had not authorized them to speak about his health.
On stage to unveil the iPhone 3G last month, Jobs' gaunt appearance led to speculation that his cancer had returned. An Apple spokesman has said that in the weeks before the event Jobs picked up a "common bug" and was taking a course of antibiotics. An Apple spokeswoman declined to further comment on Tuesday.
Jobs ran a high fever for the week preceding his presentation, according to an industry executive he spoke with. He considered canceling his appearance because he was still feeling ill, but did not want to skip a long-scheduled event, that person said.
During an interview after the presentation, Jobs responded to a reporter's question about how he was feeling by saying, "I feel fine."
Jobs has told several associates, as well as some members of Apple's board, that he is dealing with nutritional problems in the wake of his cancer surgery. Medical descriptions of the surgery state that in some cases it leads to weight loss and low energy.
Analysts were divided over how much of a role the talk about Jobs' health played in Tuesday's decline in Apple's stock. After closing at $166.29 on Monday, the shares opened lower and then recovered during the day to close at $162.02, a 2.6 percent drop.
There was intense discussion of the significance of a statement made by Peter Oppenheimer, the chief financial officer, that Apple was planning a "product transition" that would lower its gross margins by three to four percentage points during the next year.
Still, analysts said Jobs' health was on investors' minds.
"Every client call today I've had has brought up the health issue," said Charles Wolf, a securities analyst at Needham & Company. At the same time, however, Wolf said that the overriding issues were basic ones about the company's business in the wake of one of its best quarters. "I think the drop was based on the margin; that's when the stock really cratered."
Apple is, of course, not only private about Jobs' personal life, but about virtually every aspect of its business.
The public image of the company is carefully orchestrated around high-profile product introductions by Jobs. And the extraordinary degree to which Apple's recovery and continued success is associated with Jobs has made it unique in the eyes of shareholders.
"These are material questions given that his footprint is all over the company," said A. M. Sacconaghi Jr., a securities analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. "The fact is, if you're a CEO of a public company you're a public figure."
The company has said that it has formulated a succession strategy in case Jobs left the company, but that it was confidential.
Jobs, who is keeping his own counsel on the succession issue, is on vacation this week and did not return phone calls.
Entire contents, Copyright © 2008 The New York Times. All rights reserved.
HOWEVER
Now that it's been brought out into the light, even false rumors are affecting the stock price and that means it IS affecting the company. Regardless how it came about, it has people asking questions and I feel that Apple would be wise to have Mr. Jobs go through a physical with a witness present from the media. Once that exam is complete, there will be no doubt about his condition and this story can be either resolved and the company moves on with a clean bill of health or they will need to address the situation as it may be. Either way, they need to take some action or face more rumors and uncertainty which is affecting their stock price.
This should never have been brought up in the first place. But now that it is here, Apple needs to address it. It isn't something like a failed product launch or blatant security holes in the OS that you can ignore and hope the public forgets about. This time it's affecting business. They need to take action.
Check out the list - you'll see Bill Gates, Sergei Brin, Larry Ellison, Mike Lazaridis (Blackberrry), Michael Dell, you name it.
The guy is a jerk and a scrooge - good riddance!
Whether Steve Jobs is anyone's idea of a saint, is completely irrelevent. Most of those listed contributors don't give a rat's ass about Darfur either, but it sure makes them look good to the rabble, doesn't it?
But, it will probably help Apple to grow a lot, lot more, without Jobs around. They're starting to go down the right path, Apple products could dominate the living room. Unfortunately, Jobs is still stuck in the ultra-proprietary mindset that caused Apple's first collapse.
Maybe Jobs should invest in our own educational system since it's obvious where comments like yours comes from.