Steve Jobs Out – Apple Briefly Halts Trading
Steve Jobs, head of Apple, has announced in an email to employees that he is vacating his post until June for “health related reasons”. Tom Cook, current COO, will take over until his return. There has been much speculation about the health of the Apple CEO, who has visibly lost weight in recent months. Apple shares were halted shortly before this email was released. After trading resumed, the stock fell 10% in after hours trading.
The email that Jobs sent to Apple employees today:
Team, I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well. In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.
In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June.
I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple’s day to day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job. As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out. Our board of directors fully supports this plan.
I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.
Steve
