Jan
25
Steve Jobs’ Leave
Posted by: mihailbaranovschii | January 25, 2011 | Leave a Comment
On January 17, 2011 Apple announced that its CEO Steve Jobs is taking a medical leave of absence. Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook will be in charge of daily operations. Exactly two years ago when Jobs was on his second medical leave of absence Cook performed the same task just well. Despite this fact, investing public perceived the news as unfavorable for Apple, which negatively affected Apple stock (a 3.7% drop in price of AAPL).
Probably there has never been a more important CEO to the company than Steve Jobs is to Apple. Public communications of the company heavily rely on Steve Jobs. We are all used to seeing The Man in blue jeans and black t-shirt holding a new device and introducing it at Apple press conference. The whole marketing campaign is built around this Man.
Thus, the announcement of the leave of absence led to the shares of Apple being sold off. This in turn caused many disputes over the future of the company.
Can Apple survive without Steve Jobs? Time will show. What we can say for sure is that Steve Jobs has created a very strong brand with millions of supporters around the world and a company that makes our life just so much easier and enjoyable.
In the meanwhile, I wish a fast recovery to Steve Jobs.