Futures on Apple stock are down following the announcement that Steve Jobs, Apple CEO and co-founder is stepping down but by how much varies according to which report you read.
Whether it is by five percent or seven percent, news Wednesday of as CEO of Apple shook the after-market reports much like the East Coast was bumped around on Tuesday.
A Bloomberg report says “Apple shares dropped 5.1 percent to $357.10” while Wired.com says “Apple stock dipped as much as 7.39 percent Wednesday.”
More will play out in the coming days, but Jobs’ departure should not come as a surprise to anyone given his health history and medical leave which began in January.
While Twitterers used words such as “surprise” or “sudden” to describe Jobs’ exit, the financial community displayed less drama.
As David Goerz, chief investment officer of San Francisco-based Highmark Capital Management told Bloomberg, “Apple’s certainly been preparing for this for a while as his health issue arose.”
And on Wired.com there was this: “Analysts downplayed the drop, noting that Jobs was long expected to step away from the CEO role.”
