14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier today, rumors broke out that Apple’s chief operating officer, Tim Cook, was headed for the CEO chair at HP. Such talk was soon put to rest by Gleacher & Co.’s Brian Marshall, who follows Apple, and actually had a talk with Cook earlier today.
Rumors of Apple being on the verge of losing Cook (who took the handles at Apple during Steve Jobs' medical leave last year) caused the company’s shares to drop around 20 points today.
Yet Gleacher & Co.’s Brian Marshall, who follows Apple and just happened to run into Tim Cook in Palo Alto this morning, said the rumor was utterly false.
According to a Barron’s report, the two had coffee. During this time, Marshall asked Jobs’ potential successor about the rumor. Cook denyed such talk, according to Gleacher & Co.’s man, who told Barron’s: “Tim Cook will not be going to HP, he loves Apple.”
Tim Cook is Apple’s chief operating officer, a position that allowed him to try out the CEO role during Steve Jobs' six-month medical leave in the first half of 2009.
At the time, Apple Chief Executive Officer, Steve Jobs issued an open letter (although he was primarily addressing the staff team at Apple), saying:
“In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June.
I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple’s day to day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job. As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out. Our board of directors fully supports this plan.
I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.
Steve”
Softpedia note
We may be going out on a limb here, but if Steve Jobs believes you can run his revolutionary Apple Inc., there’s little chance you’d rather boss around a bunch of Windows-centric folks specializing in making PCs and printers.
And yes, we’re talking about the money, not the satisfaction Cook gets out of seeing that people are happy to use iPods.