Apple Inc: the Future Of Consumer Electronics? - Why Steve Should Keep His Job
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Steve Jobs is the marketer who changed the portable media player market by tying up hardware and digital content (and brought us Pixar), and who is recorded in the record books as the one dollar a year CEO. Apple is seemingly not interested in losing him. And they do have a strong point: what could be more disastrous, a few fines and a bad name, or losing the master of "reality distortion"? Steve Jobs is an individual who can make the iPhone brand name look like it belongs to Apple by divine right, and let's not mention the stock market implications of losing him! No matter how one looks at it, Apple will simply not let go of Jobs unless he is tried on criminal charges, and the chances of that happening are rather negligible.
Apple without Jobs
Analysts say Apple shares would immediately lose 20 percent of their value if Jobs is ousted, and from then the price would continue downhill. It seems Wall Street can't differentiate between Apple and Steve Jobs. this could make Steve Jobs untouchable by the Apple board, a distinction that dozens of workers and CEOs in Silicon Valley do not enjoy (see the rash of resignations and terminations from this ongoing backdating scandal).
"Apple went to great pains to protect its No. 1 asset in Steve Jobs," said James Post, a Boston University professor who teaches corporate governance and ethics. "In the course of doing that, the board of directors really stretched the interpretation of events in ways I think are raising serious questions about their independence and credibility as fiduciaries of the company."
Apple Says "What Scandal"?
Post Macworld, Apple execs insist that Jobs did no wrong (they also insist that using the "iPhone" as a brand name is okay, despite Cisco owning the rights -- this before the issue was resolved with Cisco). Instead they point at their booming profits and increasing market share in every sector apart from notebooks and computers (and even sales of those products have improved). Apple forecast their sales to be between $4.8 billion and $4.9 billion this quarter, and EPS (earnings per share) of between 54 cents and 56 cents.
Apple Business has been good business, and obviously they are hoping all things will remain as they are, and none of the contributing factors to their current success will be removed. However, all answers lie in the sands of time.
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