“In December 1996, then-Apple CEO Gil Amelio paid $400 million to acquire Steve Jobs’ NeXT. Jobs’ second coming as CEO turned Apple into a powerhouse,” Peter Cohan writes for Forbes. “And 18 years later, Tim Cook spent $3 billion — 2% of its cash — to acquire Jimmy Iovine’s Beats.”
“Will Iovine replace Cook like Jobs replaced Amelio?” Cohan writes. “If so, this deal could be a catalyst for Apple stock.”
“Beats’ co-founders Iovine and Dr. Dre will work for Apple. According to the Times they will report to Apple’s content chief, Eddie Cue, who reports to Cook. But with all the lavish praise of Iovine’s ability to inspire talent to write hits and to envision how the music industry will evolve, he evokes memories of Jobs’ creative genius,” Cohan writes. “What Apple really needs is a visionary leader who can tap enormous new profit pools. And Tim Cook is not that person.”
“If Iovine can convince Apple’s board that he can do that — perhaps Cook can find comfort in the role where he used to excel — making Apple’s trains run on time while Iovine figures out where they should go,” Cohan writes. “Unless Tim Cook just bought his successor for $3 billion, my guess is that Iovine will not be satisfied reporting to Cue and will leave once he gets his money.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The lack of respect afforded Tim Cook in some quarters is appalling.
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Forbes is trolling for hits. What a ridiculous suggestion.
Headline question answer is easy.
To be CEO, you need to be technically competent, not a “mouth.”
No!
If you can’t do, teach. If you can’t teach, blog.
Really? NO! Tim Cook isn’t going anywhere. Stupidity is rampant these days!
I think he did
Angela Ahrendts will be Tim’s successor.
Right on the nose!
Jesus, people are so bloody stupid.
Are you calling Jesus stupid?
I think actually agreeing with Jesus, who, to paraphrase one of his last “mortal” thoughts: “Don’t be too hard on them, dad. They’re stupid.”
I love it. Nice paraphrase. Applicable to so many situations.
What a bukakke of stupid this purchase has begat.
What a silly thought!
No it’s dr dre he will be CEO
Lol.. Man it is mind boggling to see absolute stupid comments like this get published !
Woodrow Wilson had a saying: ” I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow.”
Apple is no longer the company Steve Jobs found and later rescued. Rather, it’s a global presence facing far different challenges.
Cook is hiring extremely talented people while winnowing out those not capable of taking the franchise to the next level. Iovine, like Ahrendts and many others, are wonderful brains that he has “borrowed.”
Cook continues to impress.
Excellent point. This isn’t your father’s Apple. Somehow I don’t envision Jimmy running this huge corporation. Having a great deal to do with some portion of it perhaps? But it’s way too big and complicated for Jimmy. And I’m not sure how well Jimmy is going to work out anyway? Steve Jobs was a loose cannon but he and the Woz started Apple. So he knew the company inside and out and knew exactly what it needed when he returned. He was there at the beginning. Let’s see if Jimmy makes it a year. I believe he will be kept on a bit of a short leash. Besides, music isn’t where it’s at for Apple going forward. Jimmy was just brought in to bolster iTunes radio. He’s not going to run the company. Video and monetizing all those credit cards is where it’s at for Apple. Along with the automobile and home automation these things will surpass music easily in the future. I think you’re correct about Tim hiring the best talent for such a huge company as Apple. A huge, diversified global corporation. I don’t see Jimmy or Angela running all that.
some other “loose cannons.”
I wonder what kind of retention bonus is built into the new acqui-hire of the new dream team Jimmy n’ Dre?
Additionaly, how do you manage this talent with such out-sized egos?
Iovine is a creative guy. He now has the worlds larger a creative sandbox to play in. I don’t think he’s leaving any time soon.
Great, instead of “innovative” gold colored products now we’re going to get “innovative” red and black colored products. I miss Steve.
While I don’t know if the acquisition is good or bad, and it’s too soon to make that call, I like that Tim Cook knows his lack of strength.
Steve Jobs was passionate about music. I don’t get that vibe from Tim, so he hired (read: bought) people that are. Whether that works out or not remains to be seen.
People need to stop expecting Jobs-behavior from Cook. That just won’t ever happen.
As Betteridge’s law of headlines states: “Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no.”
HA !!! NO CHANCE. My money is on Ahrendts…
Tim Cook will chop your head off if you don’t fit in or are ineffective. He’s no pussy, though many would like to think he is. Tim Cook is no Amelio. Don’t predict the future if you can’t understand the past, pimple-faces.
Cook, The Custodian.
What about Shiller as a replacement. He seems good.
Oops. I meant Schiller. Sorry Phil
What about Scotty?
It’ll be Eddy Cue
Since Cook, is never about product anymore..it’s about stock prices/buy backs, law suits with competitors, fighting the DOJ, new hires/old fires and political/social “correctness”; anything but product. Monday’s event will be much ado about nothing.
Well said, anyone who thinks otherwise is delusional. Steve Jobs’s Apple is dead.
What would possibly suggest that this guy could possibly run a company like Apple. Is there no end to this delusion.
Angela is a more likely replacement. She has successfully run a global company and has a lot of respect. IOvine has no experience on logistics, manufacturing, etc. Running a 500 employee company is far different than a 500,000 employee company.
People don’t seem to get what Tim Cook does. He developed an organizational capability to produce millions of complex electronic devices to the highest quality standard imaginable using the cheapest labor force he could find. Few people will be able to keep that running, or even understand how the control levers of the operation work. The creative talent that goes into designing and engineering an advanced electronic device or running a fashion industry operation or developing a music label are not what will keep Apple going in the future. Pumping out millions of well made electronic devices is. Fail that and Apple has nothing.
You are 99.9% right. Tim, though, has built a team that handles this now, which is as it should be. He has expanded his abilities when taking on the CEO role, and so has his logistics team expanded their abilities under his tutelage.
No one seems to be talking about who will backfill the COO position. I notice he is taking his time with that critical role, and probably for two very good reasons: 1) It’s a critical role, and 2) the stupid press will see that as a succession move — that’s how Steve handled it, so therefore that’s “obviously” how Tim will handle it (except it isn’t at all obvious).
Betteridge’s Law!
answer—NO