Steve Jobs speaks out about his health

Re:Steve Jobs speaks out about his health by dcurtis on Monday January 05, 2009 @10:15AM (#420527)

If Steve Jobs died tomorrow, Apple's stock would fall a gigantic amount and anyone who owns it would be totally screwed, at least in the short term. It is in Steve's best interest to at least give people a small idea of what is going on with him, so they can gauge risk. I personally think that's a sacrifice a person has to make to be a CEO.

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Re:Steve Jobs speaks out about his health by unalone on Monday January 05, 2009 @11:10AM (#420613)

Emphasis on the short term. Look at Apple's top team. The people at the top are all incredible. I'd guess some of them are just as anal and headstrong as Jobs himself is. If Jobs dies, Apple goes on, probably more-or-less the same as it did before. It'll just find a new evangelist, and Apple absolutely has them to offer.

This wasn't about sacrifice for the company. This isn't Jobs working a week without sleeping to get a product launched, or his leaving his own company because he thought it was going downhill. This was rumormongering. Jobs had a history of cancer, so people thought the worst; while that's partly understandable, the people who accused him needed to assume that Jobs was enough of a dick to just not tell people about a life-threatening disease for short-term growth. This continued after Jobs called that one reporter, insulted him, and then promised to tell him about his health condition off the book.

As such, it's pretty shameful that Jobs had to come out and tell everybody about the state of his health. Media types, even tech media types, care more about a dramatic narrative than they do about accurate reporting, and that showed itself here.

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Re:Steve Jobs speaks out about his health by mixmax on Monday January 05, 2009 @11:18AM (#420627)

I'm not so sure. Last time he was ousted from the company it dodn't go well at all...

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Re:Steve Jobs speaks out about his health by unalone on Monday January 05, 2009 @11:52AM (#420673)

Not well for him or for Apple?

Jobs will go to extremes for his sense of justice. He could have stayed at Apple the first time, but he quit instead to make a new company that did what he felt he ought to do.

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Re:Steve Jobs speaks out about his health by chollida1 on Monday January 05, 2009 @02:34PM (#420937)

> He could have stayed at Apple the first time

Really?

In John Scully's biography he made it clear that Steve was told he would have to leave in no uncertain terms, by both the board and John Scully.

They wouldn't even allow him to stay as the janitor because John couldn't trust that Steve wouldn't go around undermining him.

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Re:Steve Jobs speaks out about his health by sutro on Tuesday January 06, 2009 @01:17AM (#421672)

For an Apple fanboy you're not very well-versed in Apple history.

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Re:Steve Jobs speaks out about his health by unalone on Tuesday January 06, 2009 @02:32AM (#421724)

No, I'm not. I got a Mac about 6 months ago, and while I read things I find interesting about the company, I don't go out of my way to read biographies and the like. So from what I'd read, Jobs was demoted and he chose to quit rather than stay at his position.

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Re:Steve Jobs speaks out about his health by sutro on Tuesday January 06, 2009 @02:55AM (#421736)

You don't have to go out of your way to read biographies. In Jobs' Stanford commencement speech, discussed and linked many times here on HN, he talks about being "fired" from Apple. He also discusses it in Cringely's "Triumph of the Nerds" documentary. Given that Jobs himself publicly acknowledges that he was fired, I'd be interested to know what it is you read that claims otherwise.

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Re:Steve Jobs speaks out about his health by unalone on Tuesday January 06, 2009 @03:14AM (#421747)

But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

That I always assumed meant he left for something else, but rereading I can see that he does specifically say fired. Huh! I don't know where I got the impression that he left voluntarily, though it's one that I've had for a while now.

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Re:Steve Jobs speaks out about his health by mixmax on Monday January 05, 2009 @12:27PM (#420728)

for apple

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Re:Steve Jobs speaks out about his health by cstejerean on Monday January 05, 2009 @11:21AM (#420632)

He can die tomorrow of any one of many causes, one of which could be cancer. But unless every stockholder is also in the life insurance business they have no way to properly gauge the risk of Jobs dying on any given day.

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Re:Steve Jobs speaks out about his health by notaddicted on Monday January 05, 2009 @10:36AM (#420567)

Trying to control stocks in the short term is for suckers and idiots, and also it is not possible. Steve Jobs will die. Any sentient being buying the stock knows that; factor it in to your purchasing decisions.

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Re:Steve Jobs speaks out about his health by jonknee on Monday January 05, 2009 @10:58AM (#420597)

The point being if he was secretly sick and about ready to die, Apple not saying anything would amount to fraud. Of course he'll die, but there's a difference between randomly being hit by a bus and knowing about a deadly disease for a year without any disclosure. There's room for improvement for the regulation in this space, but it's a sad reality. Luckily this doesn't appear to be the case.

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Re:Steve Jobs speaks out about his health by mikeyur on Monday January 05, 2009 @10:18AM (#420533)

And if he disclosed that he was dying to the public, that would help the stock?

When Steve dies Apple's stock is going to drop no matter what and it may not recover. Whether this info is given out months before or immediately after it makes no difference.

Slow and painful or quick and painful, take your pick.

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Re:Steve Jobs speaks out about his health by sanj on Monday January 05, 2009 @11:01AM (#420602)

It is in Steve's best interest

Really? Why?

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Re:Steve Jobs speaks out about his health by nailer on Monday January 05, 2009 @11:11AM (#420614)

The justification is contained at the end of the sentence you're quoting.

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Re:Steve Jobs speaks out about his health by sanj on Monday January 05, 2009 @12:10PM (#420693)

I disagree:

to at least give people a small idea of what is going on with him, so they can gauge risk

That's not in his best interest. It is in the stockholder's best interest, the company's best interest and (perhaps) that market's best interest.

I fail to see how it is in Jobs's best interest.

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Re:Steve Jobs speaks out about his health by nailer on Monday January 05, 2009 @01:33PM (#420837)

It in Job's interest to serve his shareholder's interest.

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Re:Steve Jobs speaks out about his health by ericb on Monday January 05, 2009 @04:12PM (#421123)

As Steve is a shareholder, if the stock price has uncertainty about his health factored in, and Steve announces his health is ok, the share price will likely rise and perform better going forward. If he is selling shares periodically to generate cash and diversify, he will get a better price.

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