Steve Jobs health rumor hits Apple stock

In delicate economic times, it sometimes takes very little for a company’s stock price to take a hit. That happened to Apple Inc. stock yesterday on rumors of Steve Jobs’ supposed ill health.

We wrote a column the day before yesterday in which Apple stock was shown to be one of the bright spots in a fairly dismal technology stocks picture. That column  mentioned the effect of Jobs’ health and how they should not effect the value of the stock, even if true. Apple Inc. is much more than Steve Jobs. Regardless, the market still reacts squeamishly whenever these rumors crop up.

That happened again yesterday after an online source reported that Jobs had decided not to deliver the keynote address that this year’s MacWorld because of declining health. Though not much of substance was offered to back up the rumor, Apple stock fell immediately when the rumor surfaced. The stock recovered much of its loss by day’s end.

The rumor started in the Gizmodo Gadget Blog, according to a story in PC World, and spread from there. The Gizmodo report opens with these words: “According to a previously reliable source, Apple misrepresented the reasons behind Macworld and Jobs’ keynote cancellation. Allegedly, the real cause is his rapidly declining health. In fact, it may be even worse than we imagined. Steve’s health is rapidly declining. Apple is choosing to remove the hype factor strategically vs letting the hype destroy apple when the inevitable news comes later this spring.”

The Gizmodo report goes on to say that its “deep throat” source has been right 100 percent of the time before, although it does not name the source. The report also notes that the Apple CEO’s health is nobody’s business but his own, while obviously pushing the rumor into the world. That may be disingenuous, but that’s the way the “news” business often works.

It is important to remember that while Jobs has always been a big part of the Apple story, he is not the entire story. Like IBM went forward without Tom Watson, Apple would go forward without Steve Jobs. The trip might be less fun without him, even if there is any substance to the rumors. Never forget that Apple has been a force in the marketplace for many years, based upon corporate and not individual vision, and upon the design and production of excellent products.

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