Katie Marsal
Heralded as one of the greatest comeback stories in business history, Jobs' ascension brought his company from the brink of bankruptcy to Silicon Valley's biggest success story. The profile notes that investors who put $1,000 into Apple stock at the end of 2000 would have seen it grow to nearly $43,000 today.
Jobs is also credited for "almost single-handedly" saving the recording industry with the iPod and iTunes. The profile also compares him to great inventors like Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell, as well as the visionary Walt Disney.
"He revolutionized handheld devices and touch-screen technology with the iPhone," author Russ Britt wrote. "And he may well usher in a post-PC era of computing with his latest gadget, the iPad."
It's been a tremendous surge to the top for Apple, which was worth about $5 billion in 2000. In May, the Cupertino, Calif., company's market capitalization exceeded Microsoft, making it the second largest American company. Apple's market cap of $291.9 billion still has a long ways to go to catch Exxon, though, which is worth $360.3 billion.
In being named the MarketWatch CEO of the Decade, Jobs edged out a few of his rivals in the tech industry. Among the runners up were Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, and Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Other finalists were Starbucks CEO and Howard Schultz, and Tim Solso of Cummins.
An illustration of the MarketWatch CEO of the Decade finalists, led by Steve Jobs.
Jobs did not, however, win the publication's "CEO of the Year" honors. Alan Mulally of Ford was named the top chief executive for 2010.
This week's announcement marks the second time that Jobs has been granted the title "CEO of the Decade." In 2009, that honor was bestowed on him by Fortune, which referred to him as a "showman, a born salesman, a magician who creates a famed reality-distortion field, [and] a tyrannical perfectionist."
Christine McKee
Wesley Hilliard
Thomas Sibilly
Marko Zivkovic
Andrew O'Hara
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
35 Comments
I think it's good when people like Steve get a bit of recognition. Too often such people are jeered at all their lives, and it's only after they're gone that people realise how great they were. 3 cheers for Steve Jobs.
I think that his deserving of this award becomes even more apparent when we see who the runners up are. Those guys are total hacks compared to Jobs.
I think that his deserving of this award becomes even more apparent when we see who the runners up are. Those guys are total hacks compared to Jobs.
I agree...Some of them should not be in the same status...no questions
What SJ did with Apple in just over 10 years is nothing short of amazing. The wild part is the direction of the company was, pretty much all Steve's vision. Not only did he take a company that was just about bust and turn it into the 2nd most valuable company on the planet, but there is still more to come. Not sure of many companies out there, right now, bring so much excitement (and hatred) when a new or upgraded product is sniffed by the public.
I am curious as to how all the Apple and SJ haters will respond to this announcement. Even if you hate the man and the company, I'm not sure how someone doesn't recognize just how brilliant he handled Apple's comeback.
I think it's good when people like Steve get a bit of recognition. Too often such people are jeered at all their lives, and it's only after they're gone that people realise how great they were. 3 cheers for Steve Jobs.
Great point. The man has passion, vision, drive and perseverance: "Genius is divine perseverance". -Woodrow T. Wilson. All things required to accomplish what he and Apple have accomplished. I have no problem saying that Apple products have drastically changed my life for the better. I would argue that they lave altered the lives of almost everyone around me directly or indirectly. The Iphone and ipad are every bit the revolutionary products they claim to be. Still not so sure about "magical" though
--------- CEO of the decade, clearly. ----------