Jobs Watch

sandykory — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 05:26:14 +0000

Steve Jobs, that is. What a lightning rod. Here are my views on a few of the big Jobs-related controversies. On the matter of his importance to Apple, I take the under. True, he’s amazing and deserves tons of credit for reviving Apple. They are killing it with the iPhone/iPod Touch platform, which I believe is in the process of disrupting the legacy video game market. But he’s surrounded by great people and, given the obvious health issues he’s been dealing with for years, it would be foolish to assume there hasn’t been a concerted effort to build out the management bench behind him. On the matter of Apple’s obligation to disclose his personal health issues, I take the over. Regardless of his true importance to the company, perceptions of his health can make or take billions of equity value in a flash, so every last detail is incredibly material to investors and therefore should disclosed.

Factoid of the day, hat tip to Tech Trader Daily:

CEO Steve Jobs has been staying in town a lot more than he did last year. Expenses charged to Apple for operating his private plane fell to $4,000, from $550,000 in the December quarter last year.

The fragility of his health is now public knowledge so this bit of reporting shouldn’t surprise anyone, but if this factoid came out a month it would have been a shortable tip.

Saving the World One Deal at a Time » Steve Jobs

Jobs Watch