“Apple Inc. may find its most valuable asset is something it can’t protect through patents or secrecy: Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs,” Connie Guglielmo reports for Bloomberg.
Guglielmo reports, “If Jobs were to leave, shares of the Cupertino, California- based company might drop 25 percent or more, analysts say. That would erase about $20 billion in Apple’s market value. ‘It would be a disaster,’ said Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray & Cos. in Minneapolis, who’s had an ‘outperform’ rating on Apple’s shares since June 2004. ‘He would be almost impossible to replace.'”
“The computer maker’s dependence on its CEO was illustrated the last week of December, when the stock dropped as much as 5.8 percent after The Recorder, a San Francisco-based legal publication, reported Apple had faked documents to backdate stock options,” Guglielmo reports. “On Dec. 29, the company said its own investigation, led by Apple director and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, cleared Jobs of any wrongdoing. That eased concern Jobs may have to step down and sent the shares up 4.9 percent.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Gandalf” for the heads up.]
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