I’ve just been over to The Street Dot Com, one of the most reliably bad sources of investment advice on the innnertubes. They have a typing student there by the name of Priya Ganapati who opines that “Apple CEO’s Private Matter a Public Issue.”
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Priya Ganapati’s post bespeaks either the amorality of a commodities trader or the intellect of structural concrete.
Steve Jobs’ right to privacy about personal matters such as his health is absolute. If he chooses not to discuss his private matters or disclose his personal business, that is no one’s business but his. To even suggest otherwise is inane.
Will that affect the price of the stock?
Yeah. What doesn’t? Other things that affect a stock’s price include…
1. The unemployment rate
2. The marginal interest rate
3. The Gross National Product
4. The Gross Domestic Product
5. The consumer price index
6. Clerical errors
7. The coffee was late getting to floor traders
8. Mike forgot it was his turn to buy doughnuts
9. A pension fund manager didn’t (or finally did) get laid last night
Frankly, who gives a shit?
If you’re trading on whether Steve Jobs feels good today, keep it up. You’re making me rich. Every time you sell off because the stock goes down and you’re a big wussy, I buy more stock. Then, God bless you, you wait until the stock has gone up to buy some more again.
I own Apple stock because the company sells products that are technologically superior to all the other products in their categories.
If Steve Jobs’ tenure as CEO ended today, Apple could coast on its current slate of products for five years. As it sits right now, there isn’t anything even technologically close to what Apple currently offers. Cheap, flimsy imitations of every product line does not threaten the coming preeminence of the Apple brand.
It has already reached the point where Apple is considered a premium brand rather than a niche brand. The myth of being more expensive is gone except among the most diehard bargain-basement asshats.
The health of Steve Job affects my investments like this:
Lemmings sell off for idiotic reasons.
I buy when the price looks too cheap to believe.
Reports and speculation of Steve Jobs’ health may affect the stock price because people trade for stupid reasons. Stupidity on your part does not obligate The Master to sacrifice his personal privacy; stupidity is the problem – disclosure is not.
So, Priya, since this is your first offense, I’ll let you off with a warning.
Watch it.
Next time, you get to sit in the assclown chair.
…
Time for ice cream.
…
Vista sucks.
12 responses so far ↓
1 baxtrice // Jul 23, 2008 at 8:15 pm
I didn’t read the article, maybe I will tomorrow. Who knows? Meanwhile, that’s the last time Mike forgets the donuts (doughnuts?).
Mike, You’re Fired!
2 Nxxx // Jul 23, 2008 at 8:57 pm
We used to have working persons over here called Stevedores. Is the American equivalent Steve Jobs?
3 Huh? // Jul 23, 2008 at 10:04 pm
No, over here in the states, that’s more of a descriptive statement, and like most American things, we spell it differently.
It’s ‘Steve adores’ over here. As in Steve adores his privacy. Or possibly, Steve adores his vegan meals.
Although the last one might be a bit of a stretch.
Vista… now with 200% less internal pressure.
4 zacksback // Jul 23, 2008 at 10:12 pm
Steve (Balmer) adores boogers
You’re welcome
5 Rip // Jul 24, 2008 at 3:54 am
Thank you, zacksback, for catching that oversight. I completely forgot.
6 Leigh McMullen // Jul 24, 2008 at 5:53 am
Rip:
You’re right and your wrong. Your right in that HIPAA make it a crime to release private health information to 3rd parties.
You’re wrong in that Steve is an officer in a publicly traded company and has a fiduciary responsibility to his shareholders to have a succession plan in place.
7 Rip // Jul 24, 2008 at 8:13 am
Just exactly where the hell have you been, young man? Your mother and I have been worried sick. You just go to your room until supper.
Oh , and a succession plan is different from medical disclosure. And neither is required to be public information.
8 baxtrice // Jul 24, 2008 at 8:26 am
Holy Shit! Leigh, where have you been?
9 Mike // Jul 24, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Since When did I get elected to bring the doughnuts. I have enough trouble just making a lunch.
10 Rip // Jul 24, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Listen Mike. You’re the new guy. It’s always the new guy’s turn to bring doughnuts.
11 The Angry Drunk // Jul 25, 2008 at 9:50 am
Ah, The Street Dot Com, that moronic, ethically challenged love-child of Jim “I manipulate the media for personal profit” Cramer and, apparently, Mephistopheles. I’m still of the opinion that this whole rumor was just a new tactic by the hedge fund mob to drive down Apple’s price for the short sellers.
12 Leigh McMullen // Jul 25, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Hey guys… Baxtrice, Rip… I’ve been writing over at Wired’s Cult of Mac for a few months now… (http://cultofmac.com) where I’m known for wild speculation, and incendiary postings like one of my more recent ones on why Steve should step down.
(flame me after you read it *grins*)
It’s good to see you all again, I kinda lost you after you switched sites, my RSS reader went dark, and only just re-found you all.
Cheers.
L
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