IPod maker Apple Inc. (AAPL)'s chief executive officer Steve Jobs, who is suffering from severe weight loss, Monday reassured the Apple community through a letter stating "I will continue as Apple's CEO during my recovery."
Jobs said that for the first time in a decade, he spent the holiday season with the family without delivering the Macworld keynote, which triggered speculation that he was extremely sick.
Apple said last month that Jobs would not deliver the keynote at the Macworld expo and that the company would no longer participate in the event after January. The company said Philip Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, would deliver the opening address at the conference on January 6 in San Francisco.
Cupertino, California-based Apple, earlier in a statement in December, said it decided to discontinue participation after taking note of the fact that the company "is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, (and) so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers."
The iconic Apple chief suffered from pancreatic cancer earlier in the decade. He has been losing weight for the past few months and throughout last year, when he appeared onstage at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, his thin appearance gave rise to speculation that his health was deteriorating.
Ever since returning as CEO of Apple in 1997, Jobs has delivered the keynote address at the last 11 Macworlds. Also, the company typically announced new products at the Macworld expo. Thus, when Jobs said he was not available for the event, people became suspicious that either Apple did not have new products to announce this time or that Jobs was unwell.
Jobs said today that his consistent weight loss during 2008 has now been diagnosed to be due to a hormonal imbalance and he has already started treatment for it. Jobs' doctors expect that it will take until late this Spring to regain the lost weight.
Jobs added in a statement, "I have given more than my all to Apple for the past 11 years now. I will be the first one to step up and tell our Board of Directors if I can no longer continue to fulfill my duties as Apple's CEO. I hope the Apple community will support me in my recovery and know that I will always put what is best for Apple first."
In a separate statement, the company's board of directors said, "As we have said before, if there ever comes a day when Steve wants to retire or for other reasons cannot continue to fulfill his duties as Apple's CEO, you will know it. Apple is very lucky to have Steve as its leader and CEO, and he deserves our complete and unwavering support during his recuperation. He most certainly has that from Apple and its Board."
AAPL closed Friday's regular trade at $90.75, up from the previous close of $85.35, on 26.64 million shares. The stock rose $3.19 or 3.52% in pre-market session on Monday and is currently trading at $94.10.
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