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One big difference - Microsoft's stock price languished under Ballmer, while Apple's is doing fine under Cook. (I haven't compared versus the market, but I sus
by mathattack 10y ago
One big difference - Microsoft's stock price languished under Ballmer, while Apple's is doing fine under Cook. (I haven't compared versus the market, but I suspect that it will still hold)
Cook's legacy will be if Apple pulls off the bet on autonomous cars. Auto manufacturing is very much a logistics challenge, which plays to his strengths. It's too early to write him off.
- metaphorm 10y agohas Apple done anything whatever in the self-driving car domain? I've seen literally nothing about it from them and I've been paying attention. I don't mean rumor mill stuff or "open secrets". Have they announced any products? Have they discussed any actual projects?
- swombat 10y agoThey have not. It's not Apple's style to make announcements about products they're not sure they'll release, and they won't release an Apple car unless they believe they can do it better than anyone else. I think it is a strength of their brand that it is plausible that even after investing $10b+ in autonomous car research they may well decide to scrap the project if they think it's not right.
- munificent 10y agoI think the main data point known so far is that they've hired a bunch of people with automotive or autonomous driving expertise.
- PeCaN 10y agoMicrosoft's net income increased dramatically under Ballmer¹ however. Dude made money. Apple's stock has stagnated lately, though that may very well be temporary. I think people discredit how smart Ballmer actually was, given how badly Microsoft did technology-wise in that period. Ballmer was as logistically talented as Cook is, IMO. I agree with you on cars though. Apple could strike gold on that one, and Cook may be the person to do it. ¹ http://www.statista.com/statistics/267808/net-income-of-microsoft-since-2002/ http://www.statista.com/statistics/267808/net-income-of-micr...
- mathattack 10y agoThe dude made money, but it was already baked in to the stock price. People already saw the money coming in. (Monopoly on office, growing market for technology, etc) The mark of a CEO is how they do above and beyond the hand they were dealt. Ballmer underperformed expectations.
- scholia 10y ago> Apple's is doing fine under Cook Apple's stock price peaked at $132.54 just over a year ago and recently bounced from $90. Over the past year, Apple is down about 20% on NASDAQ and the S&P 500....
- mathattack 10y agoIt was ~54 when he became CEO in August 2011, and now it's ~98. So ~100% return when you factor in dividends. SPX went from ~1280 to ~2080, so it's close, but not quite as much.
- scholia 10y agoYup, overall, it has been doing fine. It is not doing fine at the moment, which is the usual implication of the word "is". However, I note that my accurate and true comment has been downvoted anyway ;-)
- mathattack 10y agoWell I voted you up. :-) It's hard to read too much into short term stock moves. To quote Warren Buffett quoting Ben Graham, "In the short term the stock market is a voting machine. In the long term it's a weighing machine."
- scholia 10y agoThanks, I'm very happy with 0 ;-) Agree on the stock market. Luckily I don't buy stocks and shares or (a) I would have made big losses or (b) made big wins and been jailed for insider trading....