The Financial Times reported today that Apple CEO Steve Jobs may have taken 7.5 million stock options in 2001 without proper approval. That article has added to the speculation that Jobs may lose his top spot at the company--if he is in fact implicated in the backdating scandal.
Roger Kay, president and founder of Endpoint Technologies, was on “Morning Call” to discuss just how important Steve Jobs is to Apple – and its stock.
Kay said a departure from Jobs would be a “substantial” loss for the computer giant – possibly pushing the stock price down as much as 20%.
Apple is one of the few companies where its CEO is almost irreplaceable – both as a creative innovator and an icon, says Kay. He compares Jobs’ position as chief executive at Apple to that of the conductor of an orchestra: Apple has great engineers and designers, just like an orchestra might have great musicians – but without the conductor to steer them, the pieces don’t always fit together.
Jobs is Apple’s “critical creative judge” according to Kay – and to lose him would be a disaster for the company, especially as it continues on its current path of considerable growth.
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