Jobs out, Cook in at Apple

Posted Jan 14th 2009 5:05PM by Peter Cohan
Filed under: Apple Inc (AAPL)

Well it turns out that Steve Jobs is going to have to spend a bit more time than he thought dealing with his "hormonal imbalance." It pains me to write this, but Jobs is taking a leave of absence from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO's slot until June -- at the earliest -- and his chief operating office, Tim Cook, will take over as CEO in the interim.

I don't know how it turned out that Jobs needed to spend more time than he previously thought dealing with his hormonal imbalance. But I really hope he recovers and can return to the company in June. Unfortunately, investors do not have enough information to know whether there is any chance of this really happening.

In the meantime, they will have half a year to see whether Tim Cook can carry the Apple on his head. In after-hours trading, Apple stock is plunging -- down at least 8%.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

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