Apple has said “no” again to shareholder demands that it publish a public succession plan for the day when Steve Jobs steps down permanently. Right now Steve Jobs is on medical leave indefinitely and Tim Cook is in the hot seat but shareholders want a clear public plan to say who’ll do that job for good…
Financial investors group, Insitutional Shareholder Services, says: “A vote for the shareholder proposal to adopt a succession planning policy is warranted in light of the company’s limited disclosure regarding this issue…” However, Apple is telling shareholders to vote against it…
Rumours abound that former Google CEO and now Google Executive Chairman, Eric Schmidt, will be Steve Jobs’ successor. That’s really based on nothing more than speculation. Tim Cook, Phil Schiller and a number of good internal candidates as well as the fact that Schmidt left Apple’s board due to conflicts of interest suggest it’s unlikely but Apple could surprise us.
Apple has already asked shareholders to vote against the proposal for a public succession plan. Its reasoning is that publically revealing who will replace Steve Jobs before he decides to step down would give an advantage to its competitors and encourage spurred senior executives to go elsewhere. Hopefully, Steve Jobs will return relatively soon and knock this chatter on the head.
Out now | £NA | Apple (via Insitutional Shareholder Services)
