“Of course, [Apple Inc.] has to update the markets every quarter about its financial performance, but even then it can be parsimonious – there were no Apple Watch sales figures in the latest quarterly release,” Rory Cellan-Jones writes for BBC News. “All the more surprising then that the CEO should choose to release some very sensitive information to a TV journalist.”
“On Monday, with global stock markets in a panic over China and Apple’s stock tanking, Tim Cook replied to an email from Jim Cramer, the colourful host of the CNBC programme Mad Money,” Cellan-Jones writes. “The key point was this: ‘I can tell you that we have continued to experience strong growth for our business in China through July and August.’ The market, which had sent Apple shares down 10% at the beginning of trading, responded swiftly, with the company recovering $78bn of its lost market value.”
“Now, there are strict rules in the UK and the US about the release of sensitive financial information. Everyone is supposed to get that data at the same time, so giving something as important as this to a TV presenter seems, to put it mildly, unconventional,” Cellan-Jones writes. “What is also strange about Tim Cook’s behaviour is that he was at all worried about the gyrations in Apple’s share price. Throughout the period in late 2012 and the first half of 2013, when the market fell out of love with the firm and its shares fell around 40% from their peak, Apple executives showed remarkable sang froid… Surely Apple can just wait for the next quarterly results – and presumably a new iPhone in September – and everything will be fine again? This is a company that has delighted in forging its own path, deaf to the day-to-day hubbub of the markets. Perhaps the fact that it now seems to be listening to that noise is what should really worry investors.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Maybe Cramer simply caught Cook while he was still half asleep at 5am PDT and Tim simply dashed off a quick reply without fully thinking it through?
SEE ALSO:
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Let Apple CEO Tim Cook speak (about business) – August 26, 2015
SEC to sanction Apple CEO Cook for his $63 billion email? – August 24, 2015
Apple shares recover from white-knuckle plunge after CEO Cook emails Jim Cramer – August 24, 2015
Apple CEO Cook may have violated U.S. SEC rules with email to Jim Cramer – August 24, 2015
CEO Tim Cook to Jim Cramer: Apple is seeing strong growth in China through July, August – August 24, 2015
