Steve Jobs

In the interim, who's leading Apple?

Steve Jobs' medical leave puts the spotlight back on the other members of Apple's executive ranks, in particular Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, financial chief Peter Oppenheimer, and marketing chief Phil Schiller.

Tim Cook A one-time Compaq executive, Cook has run much of Apple's operations for some time. He also was the man tapped by the board when Jobs previously went on leave for cancer treatment.

Much of Cook's career has been spent handling manufacturing and procurement duties, although he took over responsibility for sales at Apple, before adding the COO title in 2005. In addition to … Read more

Apple shares plummet on news of Jobs' medical leave

Updated at 2:33 p.m. with updated after hours trading information.

Apple shares plunged 10.8 percent a share in after-hours trading Wednesday, after the company announced CEO Steve Jobs would take a medical leave until June.

Jobs said he would take a medical leave after learning his situation was more complex than initially believed.

Apple's shares fell as low as $76.11 a share in after-hours trading, down 10.8 percent from its close of $85.33 a share at the end of the regular trading session.

Wall Street analyst Gene Munster with Piper Jaffray said on … Read more

Steve Jobs' health memo to employees

Here's the full text of the e-mail Steve Jobs sent to his employees about stepping down as Apple CEO for a medical leave of absence.

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 … Read more

Steve Jobs taking medical leave of absence

Apple has confirmed that CEO Steve Jobs will step down from his CEO post while recuperating from a hormone imbalance. His absence will stretch until the end of June.

Tim Cook, Apple's chief operating officer, will run the company during Jobs' absence, according to an e-mail Jobs sent to Apple employees that was released to the media.

Jobs said in the e-mail:

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 … Read more

Review: 'MacHeads,' a documentary on the Mac faithful

It's a long-established truism in technology journalism: That stories about Apple are pretty much guaranteed to do better than just about any other subject.

And why? It's certainly not because of the total size of the user base of Apple products. Rather, as has been very well chronicled in newspapers, magazines, online and in books, the passion felt by the community of Apple users far outstrips its size.

Now, with the release of MacHeads, you can add movies to the roster of media documenting the full fervor of the Mac faithful and their particular brand of do-it-yourself brand … Read more

Hackers hit MacRumors keynote coverage

Some nasty pranksters, likely associated with Web forum 4Chan, have hacked into Apple gossip mainstay MacRumors' live-blog coverage of Tuesday's Macworld keynote. Hosted on a separate domain, MacRumorsLive.com, the site was plagued by offensive messages about Apple CEO Steve Jobs' health and general inanity (i.e. "SEX ME") before finally succumbing to "technical difficulties."

It remains uncertain whether the pranksters actually brought down the site, or whether MacRumors voluntarily took it down to keep things under control.

It's pretty clear, however, that this was the work of 4Chan, which has gained both respect … Read more

Steve Jobs' health now a public matter

By finally deciding to talk about Steve Jobs' health, Apple may have opened a Pandora's Box.

After insisting for months that Jobs' health was a private matter, Apple changed its tack in the face of widespread speculation regarding its CEO's weight loss. On Monday, the company issued a statement that Jobs was suffering from a hormone imbalance that was "robbing" proteins from his body. That news cheered Apple investors, who dreaded far worse news regarding Jobs' health after a report last week that his health was "declining rapidly."

The disclosure was clearly painful for … Read more

Apple shares rebound on Jobs news

Update with analysts comments and stock performance.

Shares of Apple rose as much as 5.63 percent in late morning trading Monday, following an announcement by co-founder Steve Jobs that he would remain as CEO while undergoing hormone therapy treatment.

Jobs' disclosure of a hormone imbalance as the reason for his health decline and that he would remain as CEO while recovering from therapy treatments propelled shares of Apple to as high as $95.86 during intraday trading.

That bump to the stock not only came on a day that the Dow Jones Industries were in the red, but also … Read more

On eve of Macworld, Jobs talks health

Update 9:23 a.m. PST: This story was revised to clarify that Apple did not make any explicit connection between Steve Jobs' health and the decision for him not to give the Macworld keynote address.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is lying low rather than giving his traditional Macworld keynote speech Tuesday, with health issues apparently a partial factor in the decision even as he and the company avoid an explicit statement to that effect.

In letter to employees, Jobs wrote this Monday:

For the first time in a decade, I'm getting to spend the holiday season with my … Read more