Joel West

Steve Jobs' Shrinking Billions

Dear readers,

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