“Does Michael Dell, founder of the world’s second-biggest computer-maker, regret going back to run the firm that bears his name? He says not. But nearly two years after returning as chief executive to the troubled firm he had left on a high two years before, he shows no sign of repeating his earlier success. On December 31st Dell announced another restructuring and the departure of some senior executives Mr Dell had recruited to lead his turnaround. The firm’s share price has fallen by more than half since Mr Dell’s return,” The Economist reports.
“Meanwhile, at Starbucks, a year after Howard Schultz (pictured) returned as chief executive, the coffee chain’s share-price has fallen by half and it is unclear whether his new strategy is working—especially as the recession makes sales data hard to analyze,” The Economist reports.
“So far, neither chief executive seems likely to repeat the spectacular second act of Steve Jobs at Apple. Its shareholders rejoiced this week when, responding to rumours that he was on his deathbed, Mr Jobs said his health is improving and he intends to carry on as chief executive (see article). Since Mr Jobs returned to Apple following its acquisition of another of his start-ups, NeXT, in 1996, its share price has grown roughly 20-fold,” The Economist reports.
“There is an ominously long list of disastrous second-act chief executives. Kenneth Lay’s second act ended with the bankruptcy of Enron, his trial for fraud and early death. Ted Waitt was unable to revive Gateway, the computer-maker he founded, when he returned for a second stint as boss in 2001. Paul Allaire, who successfully ran Xerox during the 1990s, lasted only 15 months the second time around. And so on,” The Economist reports.
Full article here.
Well the share price falling in half doesn’t count….every stock is like that right now. If Steve had returned to apple 2 years ago it would’ve seen the same thing.
Glad you’re back, Steve. Live long and prosper.
Perhaps it is not the CEO but the company and product. Really, people who believe this is a bad economy, can they really believe that people will continue to buy outrageous priced coffee, or disposable computers?
Good point, I bet Steve Jobs’ success be more about Apple’s products rather then just that he is at the helm. There were other MP3 players, iPod took over because of a Great product, few people cared who was CEO at the time.
CEOs are Supposed to be bringing good products to the table! If not for Jobs would not Apple had offered the reborn iMac, or iPod.
Steve Jobs was never the CEO of Apple before his exit so he is really in his first act.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Computer#CEOs
In a small way, I’ve enjoyed watching Dell start to circle the drain. It’s a fine example that the race to the bottom is not a profitable one.
FWIW, I’ve stopped buying from Dell for my clients. I’ve lost faith in their long-term sustainability.
lpo, there probably wouldn’t have been anything for Steve to come back to if they had waited until 2 years ago to bring him back.
The question that this all brings up…is it time for bully gates to come back to microcrap???….IMO, not yet, balmber hasn’t had enough time to ruin the company yet…maybe in 5 years or so, bully should be called back to take the right of it down the rest of the way.
And yes, it had to do with the product(s). Gound breaking, game changing products/services has a lot to do with it. For some reason Steve has a nack to see things and he has the crew of people to make them happen. He probably has a crew to bring ideas to him also.
@volt
If you see Apple’s product development as anything but walking lockstep with its CEO’s vision, you don’t know anything about the company. As Steve’s “bench” becomes more involved with carrying the brand, this is becoming less obvious, but AAPL’s resurgence had everything to do with Steve’s return.
To be fair, two years after Steve Jobs came back (1997-1999) things at Apple still weren’t that rosy although looking back, you can see he was on the right track.
I still wonder if anyone at apple right now could replace Jobs if necessary…
Dell is a price leader, not innovation leader, so what they sell r just junky boxes with someone else’s OS, so there is no innovation there.
Starbucks is just yuppified rip-off coffee.
Ken Lay is a thief.
Apple has no fear to innovate, that is why they move forward and grab everyone’s attention, and their dollars.
Even if share prices falls, it does not matter since apple has more that 20 BILLIONS to keep up running.
Only 2 sequels ever really worked…
Steve Jobs 1997
Godfather II
Thing is though, when Jobs was kicked out of Apple , He went back and started another company, which was then bought up by Apple . Has Michael Dell been sitting around since he stopped ? That’s the problem IMO
“To be fair, two years after Steve Jobs came back (1997-1999) things at Apple still weren’t that rosy “
That’s because Mac OS X required longer than that to merge with the Mac OS. Developers weren’t going to allow Apple to “force” them to rewrite their apps with Cocoa, so Apple had to bolt on “Classic” and create “Carbon” to make them happy.
“Only 2 sequels ever really worked…”
Silence of the Lambs was a sequel.
(better than Manhunter, the first of the series, and also better than Red Dragon, later remake of Manhunter based on book Red Dragon)
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan was a sequel.
(Best of the original cast Star Trek movies)
Empire Strikes Back was a sequel.*
(Yoda, enough said)
*sadly Phantom Menace (aka the Wrath of Jar Jar Binks was also a sequel)
“Meanwhile, at Starbucks, a year after Howard Schultz (pictured) returned as chief executive”
Wow, he looks like an iMac box!