Bloomberg has published a spectacularly irresponsible piece just now saying that Steve Jobs is “considering a liver transplant.” Their sources are “people who are monitoring his illness,” a nice vague group which includes me and you. Steve did not say he was considering a liver transplant, and neither did Apple, and neither did his doctor. An endocrinologist did say that it was a possibility for people with his (presumed) condition. Steve’s response in a phone interview was “Why don’t you guys leave me alone – why is this important?” Good question.
I’ve stated my position that whether Steve is healthy enough to lead the company or not is shareholder business because he has willingly personified the company. But this story, and certainly many more stories to come shortly, are crossing the line from journalism to vulturism. He may or may not be getting a treatment, and whether he does or not, it may or may not have an effect on his place at Apple. There’s no consequence to this flimsily-sourced “news” other than the further humiliation of a man in a very difficult position.
I’ll be the first to write up any real news on the man, but this kind of morbid hovering is distasteful and, more importantly, useless.
Mr. Jobs isn’t the only person with ideas at Apple. I think they’ll be just fine regardless. Kudos for avoiding the “celebrity blog” style.
Yeah, just keep reporting on the absurdity of reporting it, It’ll go away…
Take his advice, when he says “leave me alone”. He means EVERYONE leave him alone.
My two pennies.
p.
Hey CG while I see how exciting you find this a$$ clown. Well, I mean with all the publicity you give the basterd. Why not enlighten all of our CG readers with some of his dark past. Pirates of Silicon Valley style. Let’s let our readers not only know about the way he is going out but also, how he turned his back on his wife and kid(s). The guy kicked his family to the curve for what? APPLE, screw that noise I am a family man and I love my family way too much to turn my back on them. Yes the SOB is filthy rich but what gives him the right to procreate and then leave them to be on their own. Bitter much? nah I just know the d00ds a d*ck!. I know the world is going the way of IDIOCRACY.
while i appreciate your good morals, it is fortunate that people like jobs are able to focus on creating products that will make the world better.
also, the more you whine, the more jealous you sound.
What Steve needs is a big fat steak. This is just proof that vegetarians let alone fruititarians cannot thrive. The poor guys has been starving from the inside for years.
Hey Josh, what’s the problem? Did you get fired from Apple at some point? Did your iPod battery fail? Did you lose money on Apple stock? Way are you such a dick?
Steve Jobs created apple culture of personal worship, sorry, this is what he should have expected long time ago.
You dont think followers care about Jesus’s health?
LOL, I really dont care about apple or their stock. I only care about my NVDA stock and my solar stocks. As far as being a dick I really dont care if you guy’s worship the man and his company I just think a lot of people are fanboys and they should know some of his past. Have an awesome long weekend guy’s I know I will!
Hey dick… The mans made billions for his wife and kids, and blessed us with good product along the way. What have you done for me lately? Or your family for that matter… F*ck you and your NVDA stock, ya jealous prick….
Oh yeah, stop using my name. You make it reek of asshole… asshole.
LMAO, go back to blowing jobs……. =)
Before I put my two bits in, I feel it necessary to first state that I’m a Jobs fan.
The Reality Distortion Field.
The reported fits of rage he oft times throws at his employees like so much poop in a monkey cage.
The nonchalant yet glossy Keynote presentation he obviously works harder than a cat trying to bury a turd in a marble floor to put together before each new product release (if you think it’s easy to pull that sort of thing off, take a boo at this month’s Macworld key note. Awkward…)
Love him or hate him, His Steveness is an icon – He’s Geek Royalty. Staying up to date on the bits and pieces of his life is no different than glazing over and accepting the tripe we’re fed at gunpoint about the latest addition to Brad & Angie’s family each time we queue in the Five Items or Less line.
Everyone, to one extent or another, is a voyeur. It’s why we visit sites like this one, Gizmodo or Engadget. It’s why we ask our co-workers what they did over the weekend. We just gots to know.
Devin has raised some valid points in his posting. Earlier today, Brian Lam over at The Giz’ lost his mind in a fit of righteous indignation, and well, he had every right to do so.
I’d like to suggest that journalists will do what they are trained and inclined to do: They will tell tales. If they care for their craft at all, those tales will be steeped in facts. If you really want to get to the root of the problem here, it’s not the folks that tell a story that should be slandered or poked away at. If you want to point a finger, look in the mirror. It’s the peckerwoods, myself included that take the time to read a given story that sensationalize it. Simply put, a story – bullshit, smacking of truth or anything in between – cannot hope to have any legs if no one is willing to read it.
If you don’t want to hear anymore about Mr. Jobs’ healthcare woes, how Apple’s stock hangs in the balance and whatnot then I’d urge you to play some Peggle and shut the Hell up.
Thanks for listening.
I would hate to be him right now having a army of losers on his ass all day long. And i love how CG is always telling us his health is none of our biz but every time he farts or sneezes there’s 5 posts about it, just let him and apple slowly die in piece.
…and it isn’t helping the stock price, either.
Thanks for this wise article : I hope this charismatic man will come back asap ! BUT all the vultures PLEASE LEAVE STEVE ALONE !
News need to be kept hot so money can be made, damn the consequences. So somebody is “crossing the line” and gets 10 billion hits, and everyone else can then participate by either quoting them or denouncing them.
It’s disgusting but it’s certainly not the worst the news media has done. That Bloomberg sinks to new depths of journalism is sad but not all that surprising.
I don’t get the bitching about the stock price. You guys, a man’s life and health is at stake. Yet all people think of is about the money they lost on the stock, which goes up and down like a yoyo no matter what, in case you haven’t noticed.
And what about disclosure? I don’t even agree with that – there were no insiders, everyone heard about Jobs’ health situation at the same time, everyone saw him thin, and everyone could sell their AAPL long ago if they had wanted to. I own AAPL and it actually makes up a pretty large chunk of my portfolio. I haven’t sold because I think the chances that Jobs will be back and AAPL will be kicking some ass is much higher than that he won’t be back. If you don’t agree please sell. It’s an open market. And yeah the price is tanking right now but I can’t get involved in the day to day ups and downs of stocks – if I did I’d spend all my time on it and get a heart attack.
I heard liver transplants don’t change AIDS infections..
Typical Macintosh Users