Jobs' Health Is a Matter of Public Interest, Whether Apple Likes It or Not 19 comments
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Ever since Apple’s (AAPL) co-founder, CEO and resident visionary Steven P. Jobs showed up at the Apple developers’ forum looking like a stick figure in a turtleneck, there has been talk about whether he is suffering from a recurrence of the pancreatic cancer he was diagnosed with in 2004. The latest return to that theme is a piece by Joe Nocera in the New York Times about Apple and its “culture of secrecy,” in which the columnist describes how Jobs called him and said ““You think I’m an arrogant [expletive] who thinks he’s above the law, and I think you’re a slime bucket who gets most of his facts wrong.” Jobs then agreed to talk about his health, but only if the details were kept off the record.
The central point that is up for debate is whether Steve’s health is a public matter or a private matter. When I wrote a blog post about Steve’s appearance — one of the first blogs to do so following the developers’ conference — I got criticism both in the comments section of the post and in private emails for raising the issue, which several people said was inappropriate and even “creepy.” I disagreed then and I still disagree now. As Nocera describes in his piece, it’s not clear when a senior executive’s health becomes a material factor for investors, requiring public disclosure. But as far as I’m concerned, the fact that the CEO of a public company like Apple is fighting a potentially terminal disease (if that’s true) definitely qualifies as material information.
As one brokerage analyst says in the NYT piece, “Apple is Steve Jobs and Steve Jobs is Apple.” The analyst estimates that the company’s share price would fall by as much as 25 per cent if Jobs were to “leave the company unexpectedly” (nice euphemism there). What other event could cause that kind of drop and not be considered material?
The last time the issue came up, Paul Kedrosky and I tried to come up with the names of other companies where the CEO was such a crucial part of the perceived value of the stock, and the pickings were slim indeed (Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) was one, as well as Virgin, and maybe News Corp (NWS).). He is inextricably linked with the company’s fortunes.
Apple might like to believe that “Steve Jobs’ health is a private matter,” as the company has said repeatedly since the issue first surfaced, and perhaps it even believes that repeating it over and over will make it so, courtesy of the legendary Jobs “reality distortion field.” But the fact remains that Steve Jobs accounts for a substantial portion of the value of a publicly-traded company, and that effectively makes it a matter of public interest, whether Apple likes it or not.
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This article has 19 comments:
Bragging about how You broke this story? Kind of sad.
You look unhealthy. Is that beer burn?
"the fact that the CEO of a public company like Apple is fighting a potentially terminal disease (if that’s true) definitely qualifies as material information."
"The fact that"..."if it's true"...huh? Since the real fact has been made known that he's not fighting a terminal disease then it definitely does not qualify as material information.
I'll restate a the real fact right here:
The press blew way out of proportion Jobs health. His condition isn’t life threatening. The press supplemented their “reporting” with rampant speculation, this in turn fueled the rumor mill that was gleefully juiced, pumped and perpetuated by boiler room Wall Street outfits entrusted with the marching orders to smear Apple in any way shape or form. The root in a word, greed.
Jobs is arrogant, indeed, so are many of the “reporters” and certainly bloggers that make their nickel from sensational hype.
Also, speaking of “above the law”, if Apple were breaking “laws” there would be suits. There’s no suits out of the ordinary for an operation this size. So again, arrogant and loose reporting.
So while Jobs may be arrogant, by definition in this case of being a hard nosed, untrusting business man (I can’t imagine why so much of Apple’s initiatives are wrapped in secret, go figure); so too he’s correct in stating that many reporters are slime buckets.
The jokes really on the reporters and institutions that think most out here in the working world don’t get it.
It is against the law for anyone to disclose any person's health information. If as an investor you are that concerned about a senior executive's health, then divest yourself of the investment.
Any person is entitled to their personal information remaining that.
Your reasoning is absolutely absurd.
Fact: Some years ago Jobs went in for surgery for a procedure that (apparently) had quite high probability of success. It was indeed successful.
Should the board REALLY have divulged that in advance? Why? As a stock holder do you really want your stock to drop radically on an outside possibility when the prognosis is good?
Whenever you invest you take on inherent risk. People die or are suddenly and immediately disabled by heart attacks, strokes, car wrecks every day. Yes, Mr Jobs is more important to Apple than is most any other CEO. Is that a problem for you? Some free advice:
----- If you can't stand the heat then get out of the kitchen!
steve jobs used to be overweight. nobody complained about his heart attack risks then.
lay off. just admit that you are totally wrong and move on.
That is the invention of some "clever" journalist or blogger.
Is Jobs excited about Apple Products? You bet he is. Does he project that in his presentations? You bet he does.
You want reality? Look at the satisfaction polls. 80-90% VERY satisfied. No other company comes close.
Now THAT is reality!
The distortion field is these idiot bloggers with some kind of a chip on their shoulder!
IMHO
When Jobs was awarded millions in options and the jet plane, etc, people talked about it as though he was ripping off the shareholders! Remember those days?
Now the SAME voices (often) will tell you how S Jobs is worth 100 Billion of Apple's capitalized value! I guess the shareholders were ripping Steve off, huh?
ALSO! Does anyone know Balmer's resting pulse rate, blood pressure, and cholesterol numbers? Also, is he still on Prozac ? (yes or no)
I consider AAPL's premium nonexistant without him and would not touch it for the same reason I wouldn't buy BRK for fear of Buffett leaving soon.
AAPL fanatics can have their religion and protect Jobs, I just want the money - why else buy a stock?
Even if Steve had a cancer, it is still not your business, until it makes him unable to discharge his duties. I have every confidence that Steve and the board are and will follow the law and the best interests of Apple in this matter. But pseudo journalists like yourself and Nocera will no doubt continue to behave with the intelligence and moral integrity of the National Inquirer.
Just because the stock would take a hit - even a 25% hit - were Jobs to leave, doesn't necessarily mean that such a hit is based in reality. I don't think that the value of Jobs is 25% of Apples value. Yes, he's a fantastic CEO with gobs of vision, but the realignment of Apple has already taken place. The big part of that job is done. Does anyone actually believe that Apple will not be a major player - a bigger major player - in computing devices and mobile? Jobs big contribution was creating a culture that understands that consumers want simplicity and elegance in technology, and he's created a team of people who understand this implicitly. That's not going away.
So, Jobs is entitled to his privacy. And when he goes, he goes. Just because the market reacts doesn't mean that this is based in reality...
uk.youtube.com/watch?v...
May karma find its way into your life.
HH
What the some of the press insist on that is outrageous is S Jobs discloses everything about his health or better yet his entire health record and maybe his doctors' credentials as well. Not even George W Bush deserves this kind of scrutiny. But I think that the media knows this...I think you know that there is no news here.
The fact of the matter is that some Apple investors are too emotional and quick to react to any negative implications about Apple or S Jobs plays right into your hand. No other company in the world provoke such hatred and love more than Apple. We need to ask ourselves why is that....
May everyone live long and prosper!
I am curious as to whether he might have had a "bug" at the time the company reported he had a "common bug", because otherwise they may have been telling a falsehood.
I think we do have a right to speculate, even though it has been a bit much IMO.
Here's to good health Mr. Jobs and continued success at Apple.
So Apple is unable to disclose something it isn't entitled to know and does not know in the first place unless and until Jobs has something to say about it.