BackTimeline | Key dates in health problems of Apple’s Jobs
Timeline | Key dates in health problems of Apple’s Jobs
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San Francisco: Steve Jobs resigned as chief executive of Apple Inc on Wednesday, but will stay on at the company as chairman. The 55-year-old Apple co-founder and pancreatic cancer survivor had been on medical leave for an undisclosed condition since 17 January. The company said Tim Cook would replace Jobs as CEO.
Here is a chronology of his health issues:
August 2004 | Jobs announces he underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumour from his pancreas. He said it was a rare form of pancreatic cancer called an islet cell neuroendocrine tumour, which often is not quite as deadly as the more common forms of pancreatic cancer. The tumours can cause hormone imbalances.
June 2005 | Jobs mentions the cancer in a commencement address at Stanford University.
“This was the closest I have been to facing death, and I hope it is the closest I get for a few more decades," he says.
09 June 2008 | Jobs appears dramatically thinner at an Apple iPhone event, touching off speculation the cancer had returned. The company said he was fighting a “common bug" and taking antibiotics. Apple later called Jobs’s health a private matter.
26 July 2008 | The New York Times journalist Joe Nocera said in a column he had spoken to Jobs about his health but because the conversation was off record, he could not disclose what was said.
“While his health problems amounted to a good deal more than ‘a common bug’, they were not life-threatening and he does not have a recurrence of cancer," Nocera wrote.
09 September 2008 | At an iPod product launch, Jobs jokes about his health by walking on stage in front of a giant screen that flashed “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated" -- a quotation borrowed from Mark Twain.
03 October 2008 | A false internet report that Jobs had suffered a heart attack briefly pushes Apple shares down 2% to a 17-month low. Apple quickly denied the report on iReport.com, a citizen journalist site owned by CNN.
14 October 2008 | At a Mac product launch event, Jobs jokes again about his health. His blood pressure was 110 over 70 and he said, “And that is all we are going to be talking about Steve’s health today."
16 December 2008 | Apple said Jobs would not deliver the keynote address at the Macworld trade show in January, reviving concerns about his health.
Asked to explain the decision, a spokesman said it would be the last time Apple takes part in Macworld so, “it does not make sense for us to make a major investment in a trade show we will no longer be attending."
30 December 2008 | Apple shares fall as much as 2% after Gizmodo said that Jobs’s health was “rapidly declining" and that was the reason why he cancelled the Macworld keynote.
05 January 2009 | Jobs says he has been losing weight throughout 2008 and his doctors think a hormone imbalance is “robbing" him of proteins. He says he has begun a “relatively simple and straightforward" treatment for his nutritional problem and that he will continue as CEO during recovery.
“I will be the first one to step up and tell our board of directors if I can no longer continue to fulfil my duties as Apple’s CEO," he says. Apple shares rise 5%.
14 January 2009 | Jobs announces medical leave until the end of June, saying his health issues are “more complex" than originally thought.
He hands day-to-day operations to chief operating officer Tim Cook and says he plans to remain involved in major strategic decisions. Apple shares fall 10% in after-hours trading.
21 January 2009 | The US Securities and Exchange Commission is examining Apple’s disclosures about Jobs to ensure investors were not mislead, Bloomberg says.
08 June 2009 | Apple unveils new iPhone 3GS at its annual Worldwide Developer’s Conference, but Jobs does not make an appearance.
20 June 2009 | The Wall Street Journal reports that Jobs had a liver transplant in Memphis, Tennessee about two months before and that he is expected to return to work later in June.
22 June 2009 | Jobs is spotted at the Apple campus in Cupertino, California, underscoring expectations that he is either back at work or will return soon.
23 June 2009 | The Methodist University Hospital Transplant Institute confirms it performed a liver transplant on Jobs and says he is “recovering well and has an excellent prognosis." The hospital does not give more details, saying the confirmation had come with Jobs’s permission.
Organ transplant recipients often have recurring health issues for life, in part because they must take immune-suppressing drugs to prevent organ rejection or graft versus host disease.
30 June 2009 | Jobs returns to work, an Apple spokesman says, adding that he will work from home part of the time.
17 January 2011 | Jobs says he will take medical leave from Apple. Cook will take responsibility for day-to-day operations but Jobs will continue to be chief executive and be involved in major strategic decisions.
“I love Apple so much and hope to be back as soon as I can," the 55-year-old says. Apple shares were down 8.3% in Frankfurt by 08:30 pm. Monday was a holiday in the United States and markets were closed there.
02 March 2011 | A thin but energetic Jobs makes a surprise return to the spotlight, taking the stage to unveil Apple’s new iPad and drawing a standing ovation.
06 June 2011 | Animated but again looking very thin, Jobs appears at Apple’s Worldwide Developers’ Conference and unveils services for people to store more of their photos, music and other data online, giving the iPad and iPhone maker the lead in a fast-expanding new consumer market.
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