There really isn’t much to say here beyond what are being reported as the facts. Apparently, Apple CEO Steve Jobs had a liver transplant two months ago, the Wall Street Journal reports tonight. When you read that, it’s pretty shocking — but not that surprising.
After Apple initially tried to pass off Jobs’ gaunt physique as a minor ailment, Jobs himself came out in January and announced that the undisclosed illness he was suffering from would require him to take a leave of absence from the company. He has been on that leave ever since. But the good news in the WSJ report is that Jobs is in fact feeling well enough now to return to work as scheduled at the end of this month — which is just days away.
But here’s an interesting nugget from the story:
When he does return, Mr. Jobs may be encouraged by his physicians to initially “work part-time for a month or two,” a person familiar with the thinking at Apple said. That may lead Tim Cook, Apple’s chief operating officer, to take “a more encompassing role,” this person said. The person added that Mr. Cook may be appointed to Apple’s board in the not-too-distant future.
That seems to suggest that the transition is well underway for Cook to eventually lead Apple. That shouldn’t be a surprise, Cook has done a masterful job in Jobs’ absence, pretty much doubling the value of the company’s stock during that time. Jobs has long been thought to be perhaps more important to his company than any single figure is to their’s. But his time away has seemingly proven otherwise. Of course, there was already likely a multi-year pipeline for products when Jobs left.
The business angle is the important one here. Some have alleged that Jobs and Apple have held news of Jobs’ health too closely for a publicly traded company. But Apple’s board of directors, which includes Google CEO Eric Schmidt and former Vice President Al Gore, apparently were getting updates on the situation. Here’s what the WSJ had to say on that:
At least some Apple directors were aware of the CEO’s surgery. As part of an agreement with Mr. Jobs in place before he went on leave, some board members have been briefed weekly on the CEO’s condition by his physician.
We’d be remiss if we didn’t note that the timing of this story appears favorable for Apple. This news breaks late on a Friday, after Apple has just held a successful launch of a very high profile new product, the iPhone 3G S, that sent the stock soaring today. Obviously, the market won’t be open again until Monday.
In 2004, it was disclosed that Jobs had suffered from pancreatic cancer, which was cured. But, a side effect of that cancer is likely the thing that lead to this liver transplant, many doctors familiar with such things have stated.
While little is known about the actual operation, the belief is that it was done in Tennessee, because first and foremost, the waiting list of a liver there is much lower than the rest of the country. From the WSJ:
The specifics of Mr. Jobs’s surgery couldn’t be established, but according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, which manages the transplant network in the U.S., there are no residency requirements for transplants. Having the procedure done in Tennessee makes sense because its list of patients waiting for transplants is shorter than in many other states. According to data provided by UNOS, in 2006, the median number of days from joining the liver waiting list to transplant was 306 nationally. In Tennessee, it was 48 days.
It’s good to hear that Jobs has apparently recovered well from the very serious procedure, and we look forward to him returning to work, when he’s ready.
Update: It’s worth noting that others brought up the possibility of Jobs being in Tennessee for something health-related months ago. Here’s one, here’s another, and the first comment here is very interesting:
Posted by: Anon
April 15, 2009 5:17 PMI live in the Memphis area. There was a rumor swirling around yesterday connected to someone high profile in a local hospital saying that Steve Jobs at their hospital undergoing a liver transplant.
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Rough.
yeah we should have seen this coming. when your skin turns yellow like it was in the pictures (who didnt see all those comparisons) then it always means a bad liver. although i have no idea how that would be linked to the cancer – but im no doctor
the sicker you are(or get), the more toxic the drugs, and that toxicity level reaks havoc on the liver.
Will the clone of Steve Jobs also suffer from liver cancer? I want to know because I want to buy his excretions to create my future children.
This is obviously very tough news to hear, but he seems like someone who refuses to quit. In life or in the work he loves. Go Steve go!
wow.
Steve will come back and we can see one more i product
right .will come back soon and see more
You may want to correct the references to a ‘kidney transplant’ in the second half of the post.
oh yeah my bad, thanks for that.
Kidney or Liver?
liver.
MG, you gave Steve Jobs your liver?!? You ARE a fanboy.
I can’t wait to see steve again.
Well maybe he had a reason for double parking handicapped spaces all these years… But seriously he is a LEGEND, and I am very well pleased he has recovered from his cancer… Kudos Mr. Jobs
being from Tennessee (Nashville)… it’s reassuring to know that if I ever need a Kidney… it’s just down the block!
He will be back stronger than ever.
I agree!
you guys got that article out lightning fast. impressed.
ahh, damn… a liver. well, that changes everything!
I’m not a great fan of Apple, but in all the years I’ve been into computers and SJ wasn’t always treated well (no pun intended in reference to what we now know) but what does it change Mr Zen?
Firstly, its easy to say “I thought so” or “I know that” (as some obviously did) or “I Knew something was wrong” after the event, but big deal! what was one of the most open secrets in the tech industry is now all out.
Now we all know why Steve Jobs looked so unwell – it’s because HE WAS. By years end he’ll be fit as a fiddle again and come up with more genius ideas for the company – now get over it. Let the man recover his health get up to speed and resume doing what hew does best…
Nice article. And quickly posted too.
You do call it a kidney transplant in the second to last paragraph though.
I am kind of surprised that he wouldn’t say anything, but not at the same time. I would like to see more people talk about organ donation, but these days, some people are mean. Especially towards well known figures.
Be well Steve. Life is too short.
That’s what happens when you drink excessively over a lifetime.
Damn, at least he wasn’t a smoker.
From http://hepatitis.va.gov:
“According to UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing), about 85 to 90% of people who have liver transplants will be alive one year later.
Approximately 75 to 85% of people will survive at least five years after a transplant.”
Why do you have to write this?
Most unwanted statistic. Wrong place, wrong time.
Why dont you talk of the other statistic – the rate at which skin cells are being converted to stem cells and into organs in petri dishes.
Steve Jobs is ready to work, implies that the economy will be better soon. Those assholes on Wall Street bet so much money because they know what Steve can do in months.
He has invented 3-4 sections of the consumer electronics industry, and true to his name, has made a lot of jobs, which is what we are talking about all day nowadays. I don’t see how people cannot accept all statistics equally. Placing them selectively at the wrong time in the wrong place is not a good thing. At least not in such a serious matter.
Those who are new to what Steve Jobs is all about please listen to his Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005 here:
http://www.yout...h?v=D1R-jKKp3NA
That is Steve Jobs.
Thank God he is healthy again.
May he live to 100.
A while ago, presumable before his procedure, there was always a (running) big black van in front of his house. I wonder if that had anything to do with this; probably.
wow…
My Aunt had a liver transplant late last year and she fully recovered in about 2 months, which makes this report sound legit. One thing that confused me was why would he have it in Tenn. instead of at UCLA, which from what I’ve been told is considered the top liver transplant hospital in the country?
Brad,
Its not very hard to figure out. Steve Jobs, unlike us mere mortals, have access to a state of the art jet which can take him anywhere he chooses at any time.
Now what is faster? Waiting for the liver to come to him or going to the liver?
Completely overlooked that, because I wasn’t thinking of just how sick he was. That brings up the question of just how sick he was that he needed to get the next available liver even if it required flying to another state to get it. Oh gee, I’m starting to become just like the media by trying to dive into the personal health of someone. I’m just glad that, at least according to this report, he’s doing better. That’s great news for his family, for his company, and for his fans. Maybe the media will finally leave him alone.
The media will leave him alone when he ceases to be the head of an enormous public corporation, which he could do tomorrow if he so chose.
The idea that his health is a private matter is ridiculous. Millions of people rely on his judgment for their income and their retirement benefits, not to mention the millions more who rely on Apple’s products. Is Barack Obama’s health also a private matter?
I’m glad to hear Steve is feeling better. It’ll be interesting to see how he comes back.
On another not, I don’t want to be a grammar ass, but there’s no such word as their’s.
I wrote something a while back about Apostrophe Abuse: http://johnbeal...925/apostrophe/
Congratulations Steve!! Hope u heal soon!
Just wish him the best. World class.
I hope he feels better fast, and that he live a long life my best wishes go to him;)
I wish him the best, too. who doesn’t ?!
Amazing man, really wishing the best for him.
What a lying greedy cunt. He’s got secondary cancer, liver cancer, and LIES to the market in January to stop the stock price tumbling. It’s gonna tumble on monday all right!
You fawning apple loving faggots need to re-read the part in the article that states he only has a 75 percent chance of living five years.
This clown will be dead by 2014 hands down.
You suck.
Karen. Why the angst? You should try a dose of Zen.
Maybe he owns Apple stock, and can see the money he will lose on Monday.
He? Oh, well perhaps Karen is just sad that he has a girl’s name.
Could you please have an exploding fungus infection in solitude?
Hope he didn’t jump the line, and it’s a long one…
Liver transplants do not work on a first come first serve basis. People jump the line often. A friend’s dad got a liver transplant after being on the waiting list for only a few months. His need was far more critical than others.
Liver transplants do not work on a first come first serve basis. People jump the line often. A friend’s dad got a liver transplant after being on the waiting list for only a few months. His need was far more critical than others.
The question here is, why did his liver fail? Transplant priority is not only determined by need, it is also determined by likely outcome. And a patient who has metastisized cancer would be very low priority indeed, no matter how short the list was. They’re saying that it was not metastisized cancer, but the previous treatment that was the problem. Any physicians out there care to elaborate on how pancreatic cancer treatment could cause liver failure?
Sounds like the liver is a separate issue from the pancreatic cancer. Perhaps alcoholism?
CHEMO, AND ONLY CHEMO.
Think about this. What do the liver and Pancreas DO?
No, the pancreas does NOT produce sugars. It regulates the usage of them by the production of INSULIN. When the pancreas is damaged the liver is flooded with a lot more than the blood it filters and cleans dead blood cells from or the bile it produces in it’s normal functioning.
The combination of your kidneys, liver, bladder, instestines, pancreas etcetera is a powerful, vital and symbiotic one and losing one of these organs really throws you off the tightrope. If one goes then others will start to fall.
And YES, I lost a friend to pancreatitis. Although he recovered from a three month doctor induced coma he olnly lived another three years and it was a miserable, pathetic death in the end. We believed his death was preventable, caused by something he could’ve avoided but the truth is that cancer is a mutation. To say that you suspect drinking may be all well and good.
Actually, they think my friend ate an entire arge jar of pickled jalapenos to inflamed his pancreas so badly. Who among you knows why death will call you?
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
my dad had pancreatic cancer, it spread to his liver and thats when its game over, usually have 4-6 mths after that point tops.
pancreatic cancer has the worst 5 yr survival rate (4%) and liver cancer is 2nd worst (~6-8%). once the cancer reaches the liver, it spreads like wildfire since all ur blood gets filtered through a cancerous liver… hence why theres no point in a transplant since its usually metastatic by the time its detected.
He had pancreatitic cancer, I believe he had a whipple operation or total pancreatectomy. Either way he would probably have difficulties digesting food due to loss of pancreas function, and possibly diabetes type 1. If he a total pancreatectomy, then one possible side effect is a fatty liver (steatosis), which can lead to liver failure. Hence, the liver transplant.
Steve Jobs didn’t jump the line. People at the Apple Store jumped the line to give him his liver only to realize that they had only one. That’s what happens when you read TechCrunch and confuse livers and kidneys.
Cook has done a masterful job in Jobs’ absence, pretty much doubling the value of the company’s stock during that time
Don’t say he doubled the price. It was the economic recovery and already stellar reputation of Apple that has created optimism for AAPL stock. Cook is definitely worthy to be the ceo but, to attribute stock performance to him is little overblown. Attributing stock prices to company’s success and reward for CEO in the short run is the reason we are in this economic mess. Look at Yahoo and large payouts made to its non-tech ceo.
No, what’s shocking is that a guy with pancreatic cancer isn’t dead by now.
While Cook appears to have done a good job, I think you give him too much credit.
Apple’s stock collapsed at the end of 2008 like pretty much every stock in this country did – it was never really justified though, was driven mostly by fear, and has now recovered, although is still off it’s highs. Most of what was accomplished in the last 6 months was probably already underway but it was, nevertheless, well executed.
But most people still identify Apple’s products as a result of the creative ingenuity of Steve Jobs and we still don’t know if something like that would last without him being there.
At least for now, however, that’s not something fans of Apple’s products, and shareholders, have to worry about. That’s a good thing.
I hope he lives a long, long time.
I do too.
When you approach a certain age, you note with shock and sadness the gradual failings and losses of those who guided your life through their visions, dreams and products. Now is the period when the wound and not-so-young are seeing the mentors and idols of their lives begin to retire or even become ill maybe even die.
Just as I cannot really accept that the lead singer of my favorite British band, Kelly Groucutt of ELO died of a heart attack at 65 last February (my favorite artists as a kid are again like me and even Dave Gahan has been very sick lately) then really, all this immortality we place on the very mortal only hinders us somehow.
Someday, Jobs, Woz, Bill Gates and everybody that shaped how we think about our lives with computers will have stopped calling procedures.
Hope their floppies don’t have a virus when they’re bootstrapped up there.
WORD! Hope he lives forever
He’s my favorite CEO.
amen.
I’m not a big fan of Apple, but I wish him all the best. I thought it was in the news already that his liver failure was due to the chemo from the pancreatic cancer.
Just curious. Why is your comment highlighted? Your not the author.
He looked like hell eating dinner in Palo Alto last weekend with his kids.
“and LIES to the market in January to stop the stock price tumbling.”
That would seem unlikely as I believe that it’s against the law to provide investors with untruthful information. One possibility is that he didn’t know he needed a liver transplant until after he started his leave of absence.
Another possibility is that a man with terminal cancer has little to fear from the law.
Not *just* a new liver– 2x faster, with camera and video support. And if you do drink too much, just initiate a remote wipe and restore to factory settings….
He got an iLiver 3G-S?
I doubt that AT&T will limit his network too : )
If you read his biography or even watch a movie where he is portrayed, you will quickly find out that he took lots and lots of mind altering drugs, and alcohol.
It’s a shame but they really do a number on your body. So does being fat.
The moral of the story is be in shape and don’t do hits of acid and guzzel 40oz’s and you *won’t* need a new liver.
Ye, I would rather live longer, sober and be all lame by lecturing people about drugs in blog comments. loser.
non sense… yes, alcohol is rough on the liver but any more so than tylenol, for instance. furthermore, most of those “mind altering substances” you probably think of usually have very little acute or chronic physical effects.
LSD has never been shown to cause liver failure or any other serious physical ailments. Very low neurotoxicity. Moreover, there is no proof Steve Jobs drank any more heavily when he was young than most people his age. You have no right to spread misinformation.
Can’t wait to see Steve back.
There are some despicable people in these comments. Such hatred for a man who is very slowly dying.
We’re all very slowly dying, when you come to think about it. Life is a terminal condition; in the end, no one survives it.
We make jokes and snide comments about death to keep from facing the inevitable reality of our own eventual mortality. That doesn’t excuse the hate, but it does give some insight into why it exists.
Get well Steve! Good will of the people should help his healing process..
Now I understand why the new iphone (3G S) lacks neat features – Steve was not there to kick their asses.
Equating company’s performance with its stock performance, particularly in this market, is pretty sick and is at least partially a symptom of a much more serious disease effecting the economy at large.
Would you stand by your assessment of Mr Cook’s performance if AAPL drops 50% in the next few month, or days, in sympathy with the rest of the market or for no apparent reason at all?
That said, I feel for Steve Jobs – what an ordeal he’s going through – and I only have the best wishes for him as well as everyone else at Apple.
I hope his recovery is complete. The world is better place because of him. I know he has many i products left in him!
Lies, lies, lies … bless him
Job’s a bull dog fighter. He’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
wow, that is shocking. i just hope he’ll recover as expected … hang in there steve!!
WTF cares. Other than Mactards.
Glad to know he’s well by now. Hope he will make it all right.
Interesting to learn that in US, having some money allow you to go up the waiting list for a transplant (actually choose your waiting list).
He should go easy on that extreme vegetarian diet and get some prime US beef inside him.
Nice bbq rare burger with cheese, relish, big bab and large rough cut fries with lots of salt and pepper.
Ok some fresh salad on the side as well
Wonder if the SEC will be investigating the continued and ongoing deception of shareholders.
My best wishes for a health and full recovery to a suffering individual.
What an incredible psycho-social discipline this could be …the study of blog audience comments/responses to human triumph and tragedy stories.
He’s lucky to find a liver so quickly. Most people wait many years for a transplant.
money has made the transplant quick.
My wife’s immediate comment (she’s a doc): he must have been in relatively good shape even to have been eligible for a transplant. I hope that’s the case. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Are you sure the same rules apply to billionaires?
Yes because if a doctor does a transplant against what he/she believes is prudent and for financial gain then they risk losing their medical license.