Apple CEO Steve Jobs has posted an open letter online. Here it is, verbatim:
Dear Apple Community,
For the first time in a decade, I’m getting to spend the holiday season with my family, rather than intensely preparing for a Macworld keynote.
Unfortunately, my decision to have Phil deliver the Macworld keynote set off another flurry of rumors about my health, with some even publishing stories of me on my deathbed.
I’ve decided to share something very personal with the Apple community so that we can all relax and enjoy the show tomorrow.
As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my #1 priority.
Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause—a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis.
The remedy for this nutritional problem is relatively simple and straightforward, and I’ve already begun treatment. But, just like I didn’t lose this much weight and body mass in a week or a month, my doctors expect it will take me until late this Spring to regain it. I will continue as Apple’s CEO during my recovery.
I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now. I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple’s CEO. I hope the Apple community will support me in my recovery and know that I will always put what is best for Apple first.
So now I’ve said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this.
Steve
Source: Apple Inc.
Also today, Apple’s Board of Directors have released a statement, verbatim:
It is widely recognized both inside and outside of Apple that Steve Jobs is one of the most talented and effective CEOs in the world.
As we have said before, if there ever comes a day when Steve wants to retire or for other reasons cannot continue to fulfill his duties as Apple’s CEO, you will know it.
Apple is very lucky to have Steve as its leader and CEO, and he deserves our complete and unwavering support during his recuperation. He most certainly has that from Apple and its Board.
Source: Apple Inc.
MacDailyNews Take: This ought to help the share price of AAPL, at least until the shorts come back with newly-concocted health rumors this summer or until the Uptick Rule is reinstated in order to curtail such manipulation.
The results of a recent MacDailyNews Poll, taken December 30, 2008, are shown at the left.
“If Jobso is still running Apple at year-end, I’ll be shocked.” – Daniel ‘Fake Steve Jobs’ Lyons, July 03, 2008
It’s too bad The Royal Asshole Lyons wasn’t being literal.
Also, with her attempt to nab the “Ill-Timed Article of the Year Award” only 5 days into 2009, none other than the Laura Goldman chimes in this morning with this gem: “Steve Jobs could end the speculation by speaking forthrightly about his health, but that is not Job’s way.”
Whoops.
Simply put… Thanks, Steve,
We all needed to hear that. See you soon!
Keep kicking butts all over the planet!
Buy AAPL!
Ballmer needs Steve’s problem for about two years. ha
“But he’s said what everyone wanted so maybe they’ll finally get off his case.”
Wishful thinking. No doubt they will lay low and be quiet for a few weeks, maybe a few months, just as they were after the last time Apple set the record straight. But then they’ll start again. Is Steve still healthy? He said he was back in January, but could he have been lying or downplaying it? Were his health issues really solved? Why does he still look thin? And so on.
It’s far too profitable to certain unscrupulous stock raiders to give up so easily just because of some inconvenient thing called “the truth”. Be prepared to see this rumour used to drop the stock price as long as it keeps working and idiots keep believing it.
I don’t know if anyone realizes it, but this does seep beyond just the tech world. I’ve had people I know in real life, who aren’t nerds, even mention having heard that Steve Jobs is sick/dying/etc. I always set them straight, but it worries me that the world seems to be believing the rumour mongers. Perhaps word of this will get around too, but unfortunately, denial letters tend to just make the public think the person has something to hide and that the opposite is true. It will just get played as “Steve Jobs denies health problems!” or “Steve jobs speaks regarding his health problems!” in headlines, which will only serve to convince people of the precise opposite.
Where is that list of morons who kept spouting junk about his pending doom???
Final paragraph of introduction to Steve’s open letter as submitted to Wall Street investors
“As we see below, Jobs pen is good for an upswing to an otherwise down and retracted mood in trading shares.”
Those who say a person’s health is a personal issue are totally correct. It should be. However, it’s still great to know that Steve’s weight loss is something that can be corrected through a change of diet etc.
I would like to wish Steve steady progress to an ideal target weight.
Happy New Year all of you and lets see how long it takes for the rest of us to lost the extra weight we put on over Christmas.
I vote for the occasional steak therapy.
People that have lived too long on the left coast get so caught up in their political correctness religion that they wind up hurting themselves and others.
Uh oh.
Another MDN fatwa has been issued.
It looks like we’ll be seeing a lot more of Steve in future.
I wish him well.
The hormonal imbalance seems to be a result of the Pancreatic problems that nearly did him in (pancreas/spleen are important for hormonal production and sugar assimilation).
While mainstream medical people are masters at stopping body processes, they’re not so good when it comes to understanding cause/effect or knowing how to properly rebalance the human system – in that realm they’re masters of “trial and error”.
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I find it strange Steve has access to multi-billions, yet struggles to find competent health practitioners who know what they’re doing. Highly skilled practitioners are out there who do not conform to the mainstream medical model. Steve could save himself a lot of time by broadening his perspective a bit.
Your comments above are both insulting and highly inappropriate. You are a rude and insensitive little man.
If you ever look in the mirror and wonder why your life was not a success, look back at what you wrote above. Perhaps you will finally understand why a man like Steve Jobs is a winner, and you will always be a loser. And a bitter one at that.
Ok- So let’s not all play doctor too.
Steve- Thanks for the statement- best of luck to you.
Just eat man- just eat.
The hormone imbalance he is speaking of may be that of testosterone.
Testosterone starts to decline NATURALLY in men at about age 40. As testosterone declines so to does muscle mass, which in most men leads to weight gain. Larger muscle mass means higher metabolism.
In Jobs’ case, where he has had a resection it would mean just the opposite.
Testosterone also increases the body’s natural ability to produce HGH, which rejuvenates organ tissue replacement.
I’m 62 and have been on Testosterone therapy for about 6 months. Without doing anything else I have gained muscle and lost weight (fat).
Severe weight loss, like you get with anorexics, can cause it’s own problems. All organs suffer degradation. Here’s hoping Steve ties on the feed bag before any organ failure.
One, Steve was NOT frail, he was thin. There’s a big difference.
Two, Steve did try alternative medicine. It didn’t work. He has some of the world’s best practitioners at his disposal at nearby Stanford Medical Center.
New sign in Microsoft’s executive dining room:
Cupertino start your copiers
MEN I.
If I were him I think I’d added the acronym STFU in there somewhere
He’s a pescetarian.
Here’s the deal:
“Carcinoma of the pancreas can be treated in several different ways. If possible, the doctor will recommend surgery to remove the tumor. In most cases, the type of operation performed is known as a Whipple Operation. This surgery removes a large part of the pancreas, the duodenum and a portion of the bile duct. The patient may develop diabetes mellitus and need to take insulin. Often patients will need to take pancreatic enzyme supplements to prevent fat and protein malabsorbtion which leads to diarrhea, steillarrhea and weight loss.”
http://www.pancreasfoundation.org/
More than you ever wanted to know.
Happy, Happy, Happy New Year Steve and family and Apple family! Bestest wishes for your speedy recovery!
If he had gone and seen Dr. House to begin with………
Come on Steve!
Thats just great news!
Best wishes Steve, (although I doubt you read this site) and Happy New Year.
Good news, but probably it won’t fix anything. On this very thread there are already groups of idiots saying that all the nonsense they were previously spewing about his health was justified. On this very thread we have more idiots telling Steve to “go eat a hamburger” or some such.
Moral: Idiots abound, conspiracy theories rule, and there is no way short of dying to get these idiots off of Steve Jobs’ back.
This is probably why he’s stepping back *despite* his apparently not-so-ill health. He’s tired of the idiots and a very private person by all accounts.
Would’ve been so cool if he started his open letter off:
“The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated.”
10 points to whoever actually gets that reference.
How come no one asks:
Why is Steve Ballmer is so bloated and sweaty? Is he going to have a heart attack and drop dead in the middle of his next Monkey Dance?
Get well, be well, stay well, Mr. Jobs. I understand your uneasiness in writing that letter, and I certainly didn’t require any, but I’m relieved nonetheless by your effort. I thank you. Godspeed.