Jobs Responds to Health Scuttlebutt

After several months of macabre speculation in the tech industry and on Wall Street, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs has set the record straight. Yes, the cancer survivor has been losing weight. The reason is a hormone imbalance for which he is now receiving treatment.

Jobs made the announcement via a letter that was posted to the Apple Web site.

The remedy is relatively simple and straightforward, Jobs wrote, and he expects to have regained the lost weight by spring. In the meantime, he will continue as Apple's CEO.

Jobs also addressed the possibility of stepping down in the future, albeit rather obliquely, should circumstances warrant it.

"I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now," he said. "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."

That's All

As far as Jobs and Apple are concerned, the subject is closed. Jobs signed off his letter with the comment, "so now I've said more than I wanted to say, and all that I am going to say, about this."

The company also released a letter supporting Jobs and his ability to assess whether stepping down is necessary. "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."

For its part, Wall Street appeared to accept the explanation at face value. The stock jumped more than 5 percent on Monday following the announcement.

"The wording of his statement made it sound like he expected to be around for a while and will be actively involved in the company for the foreseeable future," Peter Cohan of Peter S. Cohan & Associates told MacNewsWorld. "[It] gave the stock a much needed boost. Investors are taking comfort in that."

There is still an element of uncertainty surrounding the statement, though. "I don't think many people believe this is the whole story," Cohan noted. "If Wall Street really thought this was just a minor health blip that would be over in a few months, the stock would be up by much more than it is."

The Jobs Brand

It is morbid to speculate on such matters -- and Jobs is certainly entitled to his privacy, Cohan agreed. However, the uncertainty over who would succeed him compels stockholders to engage in such speculation, given the iconic CEO's influence on the Apple brand.

At the heart of the matter is whether Steve Jobs is critical to the success and health of Apple. Respect for privacy notwithstanding, the answer is "absolutely yes," Cohan said. "If you believe a stock price reflects the future cash flow of a company, then you have to believe that someone with Jobs' creative ability would have an impact on the company if he were to leave. I don't know if it is possible to come up with someone to succeed him."

Staying Power

To be sure, there is a case to be made against this "cult of the personality" argument. Apple's brand is also built around quality and innovation -- the result of many engineers' and developers' participation, said Rob Frankel, author of The Revenge of Brand X: How to Build a Big Time Brand on the Web or Anywhere Else.

"How important is Jobs to the Apple brand? A lot less than Wall Street would think," he told MacNewsWorld.

Apple is too important to Jobs to allow it to flounder if he were no longer to continue, Frankel added. "His own personality would ensure Apple as a brand -- on a personal basis, it is more important for him to leave a legacy than to occupy a spotlight."