Excerpt: Apple Takes $150 Million from Microsoft
- Apple’s stock surged $6.56 to close at $26.31 – a rise of 33 percent – in the wake of the announcements. Of course, Microsoft had already set its buying price based on “an average of recent trading,” said Microsoft CFO Greg Maffei, meaning the Redmond Empire got a hell of a deal by buying into Apple just after the stock hit an all-time low of $13.
- Holding forth at Macworld in Boston, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs announced the board: Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, Intuit CEO Bill Campbell, former IBM and Chrysler executive Jerry York, incumbents Gareth Chang, president of Hughes International, and Edgar Woolard, former CEO of DuPont – as well as Jobs himself.
- Conspicuous in his absence was Apple’s long-time kingmaker, A. C. Mike Markkula, who can take credit for ousting Jobs, Michael Spindler, and John Sculley during his turbulent tenure on the board.
- “That is a huge step forward, the most constructive thing” said John Rossi, an analyst at Robertson Stephens, characterizing the end of Markkula’s reign. “All these other people have been blamed up front, but he’s been the thread behind so many of Apple’s mishaps.”
Source: Wired