How Much of Apple's Value Is Steve Jobs? 20% Plus

They've already been showing the Apple "team" during their last couple of product announcements. They're already starting to show more of the Apple "core" team (no pun intended).

IF HE DOING FINE FOR APPLE.....HE DESERVE GOOD PAY......WHY NOT REDUCE YOUR WAGES AND INCENTIVES AS EXAMPLE.....

Load up on AAPL on your kids college savings and forget about it till they ultimately need it. Don't forget to dollar cost average.

Have you not noticed that he IS sharing the stage? Do you even watch the Apple presentations before writing?

Already the short seller's front men are trying to set the stage for AAPL's next leg down when Apple announces the retirement of Jobs. Sheer nonsense.

i'm tired of bloggers using gimmicky article titles to get page views. your 20% thing is clearly completely unscientific (the stock price jumped 10% yest. b/c they beat profit expectations, not just b/c people heard jobs' voice).

Apple doing well and will do well as long as do not change every six month apple store is the worse customer service that they have special on the service section .

LIKE WARREN BUFFET IF YOU KNOW ABOUT A MARKET ,THIS IS THE TIME TO BUY AAPL ,BEFORE SCHOOL YEAR AND THEN XCRISTMAS ,WHAT A BETTER PRESENT FOR SOMEONE YOU LIKE OR LOVE THAN A IPOD .EVEN IN THIS HARD TIMES YOU CAN HAVE A GREAT TIME WITH IT AND BETTER THAN GOING TO THE MOVIES .TIME TO BUY BEFORE GETS BACK TO 200.

What short memories we have...what was the value of AAPL before Jobs returned...10? 15? And when he's gone..back there it will return...rudderless and burning money at ridiculous schemes...you forget the utter chaos and lack of direction back then. Jobs is more like Welch was to GE...only more so....GE's stock dropped 60% in the 2 years after Welch's retirement and I suspect AAPL will do the same only more so. Job's strengths are very similar to Welch..a great vision into what markets to focus on and no doubt in anyobe's mind that he's the boss.

This is just nonsense. It may be investors perception, but his real value for the company is not even close to 20%. He's been relatively hands off, only thinking about big picture strategy and not directly involved with any recent product development. Kind of like Bill Gates for Microsoft.

LOL apple is jobs no one especially investors see apple as anything but jobs which is why after they fired him & apple continued going down they brought him back. Apple will not last long when he is gone be it retirement or sudden death or whatever. Warren buffet on the other hand his company will go down but live on because of the board & the trust his investors have in him. That's the difference in old school true investing & new invest for the quick successes. Old school you researched & invested in companies you knew believed in and trusted & saw long time ties with as well as long term growth in. Now most especially the big investment funds simple try to find trends get in at the start of good trends & bail when it looks to change as it will at some point. Buffet has always been focused as a team manager most these days aren't Ellison is another who's company revolves around & is seen as entirely him so when either goes so does the company. Oracle and Apple are like the beatles without John the others even Paul were nothing are nothing & have amounted to nothing. When Oracle's Larry is on an extended vaction the stock often drops like when he's always sailing for the cup. Jobs & Ellison have strong loyal supporters but most of their companies investors again because of trying to make a buck & find trends are instructional investers who see Oracle = Larry Apple = jobs & noone but them so when they go so will the instritutional investors who won't trust or see the company the same. You couldnt take Oracle or Apple & put another high prized CEO from the same field or even trusted & still have apple looking like apple. Again just look at apple after firing jobs they still put out products but didnt do well so they brought him back & so came the jobs supporters & confidence in apple again. we can see ballmer at microsoft because he was there from the start & a big part of it even behind gates or the other guy but after ballmer leaves & now with Bill gone microsoft two won't be see as the same. These aren't companies like Morgan Stanley or Exxonmobile or GE or Sears that can have different CEOs & survive. Anyone who does needs to change the name & start fresh with a new entiety when time comes.

I wouldnt buy apple if they paided me to own them. Let alone with Steve's health issues or potential issues. This isnt Exxon or GE or MorganStanley where the company can survive without the Head & personality. Apple's own history shows it when he was fired it tanked sales slumped & they had to ask him back. Its a dieing company.

Oppenheimer anyone?

Oppenheimer anyone?

@Barry H: That was a totally different situation, and everyone knows it. You shorts aren't scaring anyone today. Get ready for a squeeze.

Trish, Hate to disagree... Apple is far from a dying company... You need to do a better job at posting. How you can say it is a dying company with $25 B in cash, no debt, and the best consumer electronics in the industry does not constitute a dying company. P.S. Learn how to spell!

Showing an apple team is not the same thing as a clear succession plan. Buffet has always made his succession plans clear. Jobs has not. There is a key man issue, whether perceived or real.

These are fair concerns. Any company of substance needs a backup plan for their CEO. It's called risk management. If you think Jobs is not central to Apple's performance, you need to go back and study the company's history. Bill Gates did a marvelous job of transitioning to Steve Ballmer, although I hate everything Ballmer and Gates stand for (corporate rapacity). Only a child or an amateur would think this issue is unimportant.

You folks make me laugh. What makes you think apple does not have a succession plan. Apple has some of the most talented, as well as brilliant executives in the industry. If you think for one minute they do not have a back up plan, you all are sadly mistaken. No question Jobs is an important piece of the equation however a company the size and complexity of Apple cannot be run by one individual. Give him credit,,, he has a plan and there are some very capable executives that will rise to the occasion to run the company when the time comes. Furthermore, you can't compare Apple years ago when he left the company to now. Steve has done an incredible job creating a structure that will allow continuation and to assume the company will fall apart when he is gone is completely mis-guided!

i used to read these articles and thought lets see what this idiot has to say... now i will never read one again as i feel i am now dumber for having read this. this article is a joke