Apple can't escape health drama
Posted
Jul 28 2008, 12:42 PM
by
Kim Peterson
Rating:
Apple, of all companies, shouldn't underestimate the appeal of CEO Steve Jobs. Or, rather, the appeal of the Steve-looks-really-thin-is-he-sick story. The drama has continued to dog the company, which has responded with a clumsy duck-and-dodge that reminds me of a woozy boxer on his last legs.
The latest response is truly bizarre. A pugilistic Jobs called New York Times columnist Joe Nocera and began the conversation with the following words, "This is Steve Jobs. You think I'm an arrogant [expletive] who thinks he's above the law, and I think you're a slime bucket who gets most of his facts wrong."
Jobs proceeded to tell Nocera about his health problems, but only if Nocera agreed not to write about it. So Nocera did a little dancing around the subject himself, writing in his column that the health problems were "a good deal more than 'a common bug'" but weren't life-threatening and weren't related to cancer (Jobs recovered from pancreatic cancer a few years ago).
All of which clears up nothing. Perhaps that's why Apple shares are down more than 3% in heavy trading to $156.44. Investors are back where they started, wondering if the future of the company is at all at risk. Apple could have cleared this up on day one with a simple statement from Jobs addressing the issue. But instead, a spokeswoman said he had "a common bug." It's now clear that she was lying.
The company allowed the rumors and speculation to build until last week, when an analyst asked about it during the quarterly earnings call. CFO Peter Oppenheimer said Jobs' health is "a private matter." That set off a vocal debate among analysts and other observers about whether Jobs' health was indeed private or whether investors could rightfully be concerned because of Jobs' importance to the company and the stock.
And now, we have Jobs' mysterious phone call to dissect as well.
Newsweek columnist Dan Lyons says that
no other company would behave this way. "Don't pull this crap with leaks and off-the-record conversations," he writes. "Either answer the question, out loud, in public, or don't."
Portfolio writes that "Apple spun Jobs' health like a Tilt-a-Whirl. And we're supposed to believe them next time?"
CNBC's Jim Goldman writes that Jobs should have known better. "Either come clean, on the record, and set a new precedent, or stand pat. Hold your ground. Stick to principle. He chose not to do that."
Related reading:
Is it fair to analyze Steve Jobs' appearance?
Apple CEO's health: Who will ask about it?
