Steve Jobs' Shrinking Billions 27 comments
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An AP story notes that as he has for the past decade, Steve Jobs continues to take a $1 salary from Apple (AAPL), with his compensation in stock. While that worked well in previous years, in 2008 that didn’t work so well as Apple (like the rest of the market) tanked.
AP says Jobs’ holdings of Apple shares went from more than $1b to about $500m in 2008. In addition, his 7.3% stake in Disney (DIS) (from the sale of Pixar) fell “more than $1 billion” to $3.2b. Overall, the approximate numbers suggest a drop in net worth of $1.5 billion in 2008 — not enough to kill himself over (as he appears to be fighting for his life).
In the Forbes 2008 rankings of billionaires, his total wealth was estimated at $5.7b, #61 on the list. However, that was based on stock holdings as of Feb. 11, 2008 when Apple stock was at $129.45, about 35% below where it began 2008. Disney stock, on the other hand, bounced back and forth within a ± 8% trading range most of the year until Oct. 1, when (like other stocks) the bottom fell out. Of course, both AAPL and DIS have another month to bounce back before Forbes freezes its calculations for the 2009 rankings.
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This article has 27 comments:
wow... the pity is that you probably patted yourself on the back for coming up with such a "witty" conclusion.
Take you own advice!
I am a contributor on thecreatingwealthblog....
Get a life!
Seriously, how do you live with yourself?
Perhaps you should consider a new line of work? Clearly you are not happy with YOUR life.
Not cool man, really really not cool!
Steve Jobs is not the be-all, end-all of Apple. He co-founded it, and he made the important decisions that saved it, but at 53, he has to be thinking of its future. With a net worth in the billions, it can't be about the money anymore, if it ever was. It has to be about the future.
Apple is among the most important companies in the electronics industry. It has the right to disappoint journalists and crybaby investors and consumers momentarily as it carefully forges forth along a new and more appropriate path. To quote its ad campaign from the late 1990s, "Think Different."
If you apply the conventional investor wisdom and speculative techniques to Apple, you will probably be disappointed. If you follow the history of this company carefully, and if you use its products and understand its users from their perspective, you will understand that Jobs and his team are doing the right thing.
Apple can reach the equivalent customer base of 100 MacWorlds a day with their stores, and even more on the Internet, and they reach those folks far more effectively than they can with a trade show keynote and booth! At the same time, look for more of their Town Hall Meetings to satisfy the needs of the press for "touchy feely" sessions.
Disclosure: I don't own any Apple stock, and I don't work for Apple or any of its dealers. (I've used its products extensively for 35 years.)
On Jan 08 06:44 AM anthemmike wrote:
> It is really a gutter shot to say that Steve Jobs is killing himself
> over a decline in net worth. And it is a pitful attempt at a joke.
Joel try another line of work
Steve Jobs is the only CEO who gets the saint treatment
i'm wondering why you felt compelled to publish such a ill flavored paper? Steve Job's health condition doesn't belong to you.
Please exercise a little shame and apologize to your readers. You might still redeem your dignity.
…as for me, i'm really sorry that i clumsily stumbled in here. love
I lost about $50k of my investments. How come you're not writing about me? Or about the 60 people ahead of Steve on the Forbes list? Using Steve Jobs to get your pathetic column noticed is a low blow. Hope when you're fighting an illness, someone will write nasty things about you.
I would agree that the reference to the German billionaire killing himself was at best macabre, and at worse tasteless. For some reason the juxtaposition struck me as ironic at the time — given all the speculation that Steve was dying — but now it seems a lot less funny.
I write actually for my personal blog (not SA), where most readers have a context of my previous posts. In the past, without that context, some Seeking Alpha readers have misinterpreted any criticism of Apple (or Jobs) as being an attack on Jobs, which is simply not true.
However, as for Steve's health, my comments about Steve (see link above) have included:
Jan. 6: “So Apple (and Steve Jobs) will only share as much information as they want to share, when they want to share it. As with other business kerfuffles, I have one thought for the press: get over it!”
Dec. 17: “This week I am praying for Steve Jobs and his family.”
Aug. 29: “I realized I was focusing entirely on the company and not at all on the man — who, no matter how much larger than life he might appear, is still just a man. ... Steve has three children at home (likely tweens or teens) and one grown daughter, and so whether or not he has imminent health problems, I hope that he’s spent the time recently to give them the father they need.”
I am also someone who lived through (and then later wrote about) the disaster at Apple that was John Sculley. So I am second to none in my respect for Steve’s effectiveness at Apple and his value to the company.
Joel
As for Steve's wealth, why not compare it to 2006, when Disney bought Pixar? Back then, I believe Forbes had him only at $4.2B, so he's still up. $3.4B from Pixar shares and $800M in Apple shares. I'd imagine that's still better than just about anyone of his peers. How's your portfolio looking?