Steve Jobs Takes Leave of Absence Until End of June

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
From our front-page news:
There's been a rather large cloud of doubt hovering over fans of Apple for quite a while now, relating to the health of the company's creative CEO, Steve Jobs. Last summer, we found out that Jobs mentioned to a reporter that he was fine, and then just a few weeks ago, he sent out a revealing e-mail to his company and press saying that he has indeed had rough health issues, but the worst was over.

Yesterday, though, Steve e-mailed his team once again and stated that his condition has turned out to be a little more "complex" than originally believed, and to help focus on it, he'll be taking a leave of absence from the company until the end of June. It goes without saying that this is a smart move, because health should always come before work.

In the interim, Tim Cook, Apple's COO, will become responsible for the company's day-to-day operations, although Steve will still be working close with executives on the important decisions. Apple's stock fell sharply as a result of the news, but it's probably obvious that Apple isn't simply going to die because the CEO's taking a break. Get well soon, Steve.

steve_jobs_holding_macbook_air_011509.jpg

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.


Source: Letter from Steve Jobs
 

Greg King

I just kinda show up...
Staff member
This is a rough one. It's sad to see any person fall ill. Get well soon Steve! The industry is less without you.
 

Rob Williams

Editor-in-Chief
Staff member
Moderator
I couldn't imagine how hard it would be to deal with something so serious when being in his position. If the CEO of any other company got ill, I don't think too many people would notice. But with Jobs, people notice immediately and drag it out to death. When I was browsing MSNBC.com last night, they broke the news of his health when it happened while I was refreshing the page, and so I went to Digg.com to check the "upcoming". Within minutes, story after story was posted about it... it's insane.

It's no wonder he wants to take a few months to get out of the public's eye to focus on his health. I'm not sure how he could deal with that attention day in and day out.
 

Kougar

Techgage Staff
Staff member
Well, it really doesn't help that Steve Jobs IS Apple. Steve nor Apple never made any effort to show the public new faces or new people behind the company while he was running the show... so in effect Steve WAS the company. With him out of the picture there's nothing to fill his shoes or even attempt to shore up investor confidence.
 
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