Thursday 6 October 2011

Apple Shares Decline After Co-Founder Steve Jobs Passes Away

Palo Alto resident and former Apple CEO Steve Jobs died Wednesday at the age of 56. His death was announced by Apple in a statement, and news of his passing spread quickly throughout his neighborhood in Palo Alto.


Despite the police cars and Apple security, the street was hushed as neighbors passed by Jobs' storybook home to leave flowers and messages in his honor.


Meanwhile, his family released the following statement:


"Steve died peacefully today surrounded by his family.


In his public life, Steve was known as a visionary; in his private life, he cherished his family. We are thankful to the many people who have shared their wishes and prayers during the last year of Steve’s illness; a website will be provided for those who wish to offer tributes and memories.


We are grateful for the support and kindness of those who share our feelings for Steve. We know many of you will mourn with us, and we ask that you respect our privacy during our time of grief."


Also the stock fell as much as $8.25 to $370 in trading before U.S. exchanges opened, after closing at $378.25 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Apple, which has the biggest weighting among any stock in the Nasdaq-100 Index at 15 percent, was halted after the announcement about Jobs’s death yesterday.


Jobs, who resigned as CEO on Aug. 24, passed away at 56 yesterday, Cupertino, California-based Apple said. He was diagnosed in 2003 with a neuroendocrine tumor, a rare form of pancreatic cancer, and had a liver transplant in 2009.


“The drop this morning is a shock reaction,” said Andreas Lipkow, an equity trader at MWB Fairtrade Wertpapierhandelsbank AG in Frankfurt. “In his position as a visionary I think he organized things and I think the new CEO will run things really well.”


The announcement of Jobs’s passing came one day after CEO Tim Cook took the stage to introduce a new iPhone, marking his first product unveiling since taking the reins. To maintain Apple’s growth, he will have to push into more new markets, continue the company’s Asian expansion and execute a shift to cloud computing.


Microsoft, Intel


Apple’s stock price has risen more than 9,000 percent since Jobs returned to the company in 1997. The shares have more than doubled in the past two years, while Microsoft Corp. has gained 5.1 percent and Intel Corp. has risen 14 percent. Hewlett- Packard Co. is down 48 percent.


The success of the iPhone has helped Apple’s stock weather market turmoil and the resignation of the CEO who made Apple the world’s most valuable company.


Investors have had mixed reactions since Jobs stepped down as CEO. The shares rose more than 7 percent in the month after he resigned, and have since slipped back to little changed. At the close of trading yesterday, Apple was valued at $351 billion.


“Apple’s business model will continue, but Steve Jobs was the cleverest product innovator and most precise brand creator in history,” said Daniel Weston, a portfolio adviser at Schroeder Equities GmbH in Munich. “Someone like that will not be replaced in our lifetimes.”


Shares of Asian and European rivals climbed. Samsung Electronics Co. climbed 1.5 percent in Seoul. LG Electronics Inc. gained 6.3 percent. Nokia Oyj added 1.8 percent on the Helsinki exchange.



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