Editor’s note: This article was first published in January 2011, while Steve Jobs was still Apple’s CEO; the market capitalisation ranking, share-price movements and potential losses it cites are from that month. Jobs resigned as CEO in August 2011, when Tim Cook succeeded him, and died on 5 October 2011.
In 2004, Apple CEO Steve Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. This week the company announced that Steve will be on medical leave for a while and gave no further explanation.
Apple is the world’s second most valuable company by market capitalisation, and its CEO’s leave is already taking its toll. Just yesterday on Wall Street, the company’s shares fell 4%, and if fears that Steve may hand over his post persist, Apple could lose more than $13 billion, with its share price falling as much as a further 15%.
Rumours point to Tim Cook as the company’s future leader. It’s not that Cook isn’t a competent manager, but the reputation of Steve Jobs, who controlled every detail of the creation and marketing process, may lead people to think that Cook won’t be up to Steve’s level.
For those who don’t know the story of Steve Jobs or where Apple came from, we recommend our article based on the speech Steve Jobs himself gave at Stanford University (Steve Jobs’s beginnings).
Of all the great business people we write about, Steve probably has the most inspiring story of struggle, consistency, perseverance and all the qualities that define a winner. That’s why I hope that, just as he won the battle for his company, he will now win the battle against this sad illness.
Further reading
- Steve Jobs’s beginnings: how Apple started
- How to become a successful businessperson: the example of Steve Jobs
Featured image: Yusuke Kawasaki, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
