Steve Jobs takes medical leave of absence

Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, who has survived a rare pancreatic cancer, is taking a medical leave of absence from the company almost exactly two years after he took a similar one, during which he received a liver transplant.

The news was announced when US stock markets were closed for a public holiday. In after-hours trading in Frankfurt on January 16, the stock fell US$22, or nine per cent. When Jobs took a similar leave of absence in 2009, the stock was briefly suspended after falling 10 per cent on the US market.

The company’s chief operating officer, Tim Cook, who has been at the company since March 1998, will take over the day-to-day operations of the company – though in an email to staff Jobs said that he will "continue as CEO and be involved in major strategic decisions for the company". He added: "I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can. In the meantime, my family and I would deeply appreciate respect for our privacy."

Apple executives in Europe declined to provide any further detail on the reason for Jobs’ absence or its expected length.

Carolina Milanesi, vice-president of mobile devices for the research company Gartner, said that Jobs’ absence need not mean the end of Apple. "The timing of the announcement [when markets were closed] shows that timing is part of being good at your job. I think that this time around, compared to 2009, people know that Tim Cook can do a good job. As a consumer, I don’t care who’s running the company – I just care about the products I can buy."