Apple should admit Jobs transplant
As if we didn’t all know about it anyway, experts in corporate governance insist that Apple should disclose whether or not Steve Jobs had a liver transplant if he returns to work as CEO.
Such reports may not be necessary while Jobs is on leave from the Cupertino-based electronics giant, but that will change once he returns to the fold, according to the experts. Charles Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, gave this opinion: “In the interests of transparency, I think it would be necessary for them to disclose something as serious as a liver transplant. Investors want to know if he’s healthy and if he can continue to run the company.”
Jobs is a cancer survivor and went on leave in January after becoming obviously much thinner and unwell-looking due to a chemical imbalance caused by his previous condition. He (and Apple) said at the time that he wanted to get away from the pressure of his job and focus on his health, according to a Bloomberg story. Recent reports from a number of sources, which have not been denied, have said that he had a liver transplant about two months ago.
Nell Minow, co-founder of The Corporate Library, a research firm that tracks corporate governance issues, agrees with Elson’s analysis. Minow says, “The CEO of a public company cannot have the luxury of privacy about significant medical matters, especially when he is a central part of the company’s brand and a core asset. A board of directors has to insist on and provide frankness to the company’s constituents — including its shareholders — about the CEO’s health and its impact on his availability to the company.”
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean at Yale University’s School of Management, also believes that Apple needs to say more about the Jobs health issue rather try to protect him from publicity. In Sonnenfeld’s opinion, “The board continues to be enraptured with his admitted unrivaled genius, creativity, and will. They are not required to give us hourly updates on Jobs’s treatment now that he is admittedly out of service on leave, but they must name a CEO — at least an interim CEO as he has clearly been incapacitated and unable to serve this spring.”
It is clear that experts in such matters feel that more transparency is required in the area of the Apple co-founder’s health. Whether the critical nature of Jobs’s work at Apple is actual or perceived, there is apparently a lot riding on his continued involvement with the company. It may also simply be wise to quell continued speculation with announcements of the facts as they become known to the Apple board.
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June 22nd, 2009
Jobs should quit his job. Enjoy his retire life.
But……He will be back.
Maybe a good news for Apple.
I think it’s a bad news for his health.
Who knows.
June 24th, 2009
The only person that can release medical information is Mr. Steve Jobs, not Apple, not the hospital unless Mr. Jobs signed a release consent form.
His medical information is protected by the U.S. Government HIPAA regulations.
June 27th, 2009
İs good progress,