Yes, Jobs' health is investors' business

Jobs' letter to employees Wednesday (in which he said that "during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought") has now made last week's statement "inoperative." And while the new letter consigned all that was left of Apple's credibility to the dustbin, it didn't solve the fundamental problem that Jobs' health presents for the company: How can it transition to new management?

For one thing, the announcement still leaves Jobs' role ambiguous. He says he plans to "remain involved in major strategic decisions" during his absence. That sounds like he's burdening his designated stand-in, Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook, with about 20 tons of dead weight.

Cook by many accounts is a skilled executive -- his is the first name on lists of potential Jobs successors. But it won't be easy for him to exercise authority over his putative equals and rivals in the organization when many of them may think they can appeal any decision they don't like to the still-leader Steve Jobs. After all, Jobs' letter said he'd be back to take up the reins after June.

Jobs says the Apple board is cool with this arrangement, which only raises the further question: How come? One answer may be that the eight-member board, which besides Jobs includes Al Gore and the chairmen of Intuit Inc., Genentech Inc. and Google Inc., is totally his creature. There's no designated chairman, and on the evidence, no one to take charge in what may well be a management crisis.

In fact, this is the same situation behind much of the financial crisis: CEOs who think they're invincible, and toothless boards doing their bidding.

For years, Apple has maintained that Steve Jobs' health is a personal matter and none of the business of the employees, customers, suppliers and investors who have ridden along as he steered the company to great heights since 1997.

But there's nothing personal in the curiosity that the issue has generated since 2004. It's just business. From time to time, Jobs himself undoubtedly has taken actions in the name of business that have had negative personal effects on individuals.

The consequences of Apple's resistance to dealing with reality are coming home, and this vibrant, important and ever-youthful company should have grown up long ago.

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Michael Hiltzik's column appears Mondays and Thursdays.

You can reach him at michael.hiltzik@latimes .com and read his previous columns at www.latimes.com /hiltzik.