14 DAY TRIAL // During Apple's Q&A with the media at its FY 09 First Quarter Results Conference Call, the company's execs weighed in on various topics, including one that concerns its CEO. Interested in Steve Jobs' wellbeing, Barclays Capital analyst Ben Reitzes adopted a straight-forward approach and asked how Jobs was doing, as soon as he got his chance.
According to a World of Apple report, Apple's Peter Oppenheimer, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, repeated Apple's current stance simply declaring that “Steve is the CEO of Apple and intends to be involved in major strategic decisions.” In his capacity as CFO, Oppenheimer oversees the controller, treasury, investor relations, tax, information systems, internal audit and facilities functions at Apple. He reports to the CEO Steve Jobs and serves on the company’s executive committee.
Apple knows that, when talking about its CEO's condition, even the smallest hesitation can have irreparable impact on the company's stock. Perhaps this was the reason why Cook followed Oppenheimer with a statement saying that Apple has a strong executive team in charge of 35,000 employees whom he described as “wicked smart.” Having taken the handles, Cook went on to explain that the values of Apple are “extremely well-entrenched,” according to the above-mentioned news source.
“And frankly, we don’t settle for anything less than excellence in every group in the company, and the self-honesty to admit where we’re wrong,” Cook said. “And I think regardless of who is in what job, those values are so embedded in this company that Apple will do extremely well. I would just reiterate that Apple is doing the best work in its history,” he concluded.
Timothy D. Cook is Apple's COO and current acting CEO. Apple’s chief operating officer reports only to Steve Jobs, who left him the CEO chair for a five-month leave. It is worth noting at this point that speculation still glooms over Apple's CEO succession plan.