February 25th, 2009
Apple director: 'no change' in Jobs' plans
Apple CEO Steve Jobs expects to return from his medical leave at the end of June as planned, according to an Apple director who responded to an investor at the company’s annual shareholder meeting Wednesday.
The investor — the only one to press for details on Jobs’ health — asked when the board knew Jobs planned to step away from his daily duties. Apple director Arthur Levinson responded that since Jobs announced Jan. 14 that he needed to go on leave, “nothing has changed.”
Jobs, who turned 54 yesterday, was not at the meeting, in accordance with his announced medical leave. It was the first time he hasn’t led Apple’s annual meeting since he retook the top job in 1997, according to Bloomberg.
At one point, investors stood up and sang “Happy Birthday” to him, at the urging of one shareholder.
Despite questions about how Apple’s board handled the disclosures about Jobs’ health, all the directors were re-elected, including former Vice President Al Gore, Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt and Levinson, who is the chairman and CEO of Genentech Inc. Shareholders also declined to pass several shareholder-sponsored resolutions, reports MarketWatch.
Andrew J. Nusca is an associate editor for ZDNet and SmartPlanet.
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