Jobs’s Return to Apple Greeted With Little Fanfare by Investors

By Connie Guglielmo

June 30 (Bloomberg) -- Steve Jobs’s return from medical leave was greeted with little fanfare by investors.

Apple, up 67 percent since Jobs went on leave Jan. 14, fell 47 cents to $141.97 yesterday in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. That compares with gains in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and the Nasdaq Composite Index.

Investors have gotten comfortable with Apple’s management team and its ability to run the company without Jobs’s oversight, said Ryan Jacob, head of the Jacob Internet Fund in Los Angeles. Jobs, a cancer survivor, received a liver transplant during his five-and-a-half-month leave. His doctors said last week that he was recovering well.

“If you look at how the stock has performed as the ultimate barometer, one of the reasons it held up is that the company performed well during his absence,” Jacob said. Apple’s stock is his firm’s biggest holding. “If we were talking last year or even six to nine months ago, I’d be complaining that they weren’t doing enough to show off the depth of the team behind Steve Jobs.”

Jobs, 54, was back at work yesterday, making good on a promise to return by the end of June. He will come to the office a few days a week and work from home the rest of the time, said Steve Dowling, a spokesman for the Cupertino, California-based company.

Few Details

Apple hasn’t provided details on Jobs’s current medical condition. Last week, the Memphis hospital where he had his liver transplant said Jobs has an “excellent” prognosis. He was the sickest patient on the waiting list at the time a liver was available, the hospital said.

The disclosures about Apple’s CEO should come from the company and not from outside sources, corporate-governance experts said. Since Jobs is so closely aligned with Apple’s brand, and since speculation about his health caused the company’s shares to fluctuate last year, investors should be kept apprised of his health, said Charles Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware.

“They need to put out a statement to explain what happened during his departure, to explain what happened between now and then to put him in good health,” Elson said. “It has to come from Apple.”

Dowling declined to comment on Apple’s disclosures.

If Jobs is fully capable of doing his job, the company may feel it doesn’t need to disclose specifics about his health, said James Balassone, executive in residence at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University in California.

Need to Know?

“Given technology, he doesn’t need to be in the office, so location isn’t the issue,” Balassone said. “What do we need to know about the liver transplant? Is he able to perform his role? If the answer is, ‘He is,’ there may not be any more need for more information.”

Jobs’s return was a missed opportunity for him to shift into more of a design role, leaving day-to-day management to others, said Apple investor Michael Obuchowski. When he went on leave, Jobs handed the reins to Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook. In 2004, Cook also filled in for Jobs, while the CEO recuperated from surgery for a tumor in his pancreas.

Cook has been running the company with a team of executives, including marketing chief Phil Schiller, design leader Jonathan Ive and retail manager Ron Johnson. Under their guidance, Apple introduced Mac computers, redesigned its iPod media player and began selling a faster version of the iPhone.

‘Strong Culture’

In April, the company reported profit and revenue that topped analysts’ estimates. Apple releases third-quarter results next month.

“Steve Jobs created a great team with a very strong culture,” said Obuchowski, chief investment officer at First Empire Asset Management Inc. in Hauppauge, New York. “I believe that this team is more than capable of functioning really well without a need for daily supervision.”

Jobs first talked about potential successors in March 2008, saying Apple’s board would have “great choices” among the executive team if he decided to leave for any reason. The board told shareholders at their annual meeting in February that the company has a succession plan, which is confidential.

“As a public company with a celebrity CEO, Apple really should directly address Steve’s health and present a transparent succession plan,” Obuchowski said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Connie Guglielmo in San Francisco at cguglielmo1@bloomberg.net