The conversations weren’t explicitly aimed at recruiting a new chief executive and were more of an informal exploration of the company’s options, said these people. The directors don’t appear to have been acting on behalf of the full board, some of these people said. Apple has seven directors, including Mr. Jobs.

It is also unclear whether Mr. Jobs was aware. In response to questions from The Wall Street Journal about the discussions, Mr. Jobs said Monday in an email, “I think it’s hogwash.” An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

Oracle’s statement yesterday called the appointment of Safra Catz as president and CFO “permanent.” While that’s clearly meant to convey that this is no interim appointment, which was the case in her first turn as CFO during a three-year period that ended in 2008, does it also imply that Catz has reached her peak on the management ladder?

At least one analyst has concluded that it does. Pat Walravens, an analyst at JMP Securities tells Bloomberg that Catz’s appointment sets the pieces in place for President Mark Hurd, the 54-year old former Hewlett-Packard CEO, to take the reins from CEO Larry Ellison at some point in the future. Hurd, he says, gains more day-to-day control over the company, giving him a logical springboard to the corner office.

But is it really so clear? Before Hurd arrived on the scene, it was Catz who had always been described as Ellison’s heir apparent. She won her stripes primarily overseeing Oracle’s $10.6 billion takeover of Peoplesoft in 2005. At an Oracle event in 2005, Ellison said “If I dropped dead tomorrow, Safra Catz would be CEO of Oracle.” That implies that a formal succession plan saying exactly that was once–and may still be–in place. And by getting a title that begins with C, something Hurd doesn’t have, there’s a further implication of seniority that effectively makes Catz appear to be the second most powerful person at Oracle after Ellison.

Obviously there will be more tea-leaf reading to come from all this. And there will be more signals from Oracle that will be interpreted and re-interpreted again. Ellison is 66 years old and has been running Oracle since the days of the Carter Administration. He’s showing no signs of letting go of the pilot wheel just yet. (You just know he’s going to live to be 180.) Hurd is 54 and Catz is 49. Ellison likes them both. Time will eventually tell who gets the nod.

According to a global survey of 1,300 companies by Korn/Ferry, though 98 percent of companies believe a CEO succession plan to be important, only 35 percent currently have one in place. And 49 percent haven’t had one in place for the last three years.

That’s something shareholders calling for Apple to disclose its succession plan annually might want to keep in mind as they prepare for the company’s annual meeting later this month. On this issue, Apple is actually a leader in corporate governance. And it does have a good rationale for keeping its succession plan private:

• A written succession plan would give Apple’s rivals unfair advantage by publicizing its objectives and plans.
• Identifying potential successors to Steve Jobs would invite other companies to recruit those people away from Apple.

Sound reasons and ones that seem to outweigh the main reason for making it public: Making nervous shareholders less nervous.

There will be those who are inclined to try to equate Jobs’s health issues with all kinds of near-term product implications, but such speculation is likely off base. While Jobs’s health may have been a factor in the timing of a couple of announcements, don’t expect his medical issues to substantially impact things like the next iPhone or iPad.

The company overall tends to operate on long lead times, so much of this year’s product plans are likely in the works and probably won’t be deeply affected. Jobs practically said as much in his brief statement.

Also, Jobs leaves Apple in extremely capable hands. Tim Cook has ably led Apple during Jobs’s prior medical leaves, and there is every reason to believe that this time will be no different.

Longer-term, though, is another question. Here is where it is hard to overstate the importance of Steve Jobs at the helm.

While Apple has a company full of talented workers, Jobs tends to be involved in major (and plenty of not-so-major) decisions in almost every area. He is a well-known perfectionist with a strong, sometimes maddening focus on having products done just so.

Those who understand Apple know that Jobs is not just a chief executive–he is also the de facto head of every department. If there is a tough call to be made about a product or a decision on the next marketing pitch, Jobs is the ultimate authority. He’s known to weigh in on all manner of more minor issues too. This attention to making every detail just so can make Jobs a tough guy to deal with, but is also key to a good part of the company’s success.

And even in the short term–although the same products are likely to come from Cupertino, whether Steve Jobs is there to introduce them or not–no one can sell like Steve. There’s a reason that satellite trucks line up for blocks anytime he has something to say.

Update, 1:35 p.m.: Just got done going on MSNBC talking about the situation (video posted below).

Ina Fried talks to MSNBC Dayside about Steve Jobs health
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PREVIOUSLY

• Steve Jobs Asked for Privacy–and He Deserves It This Time
• Apple Shares Down Nearly 8 Percent in Frankfurt on News of Jobs’s Medical Leave
• Citing Health, Steve Jobs Steps Away From Apple, Again
• Apple Opposes Proposal on CEO Succession Planning
• Deutsche Bank Joins the Running of the Apple Bulls
• Jobs: “I’m Vertical, Back at Apple and Loving Every Day of It”
• Apple Investors Are Wusses
• When Steve Jobs Said “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish,” He Did Not Mean This Foolish
• AAPL Sauce
• Apple’s Steve Jobs: “I Have Decided to Take a Medical Leave of Absence”
• The Entire Letter: Steve Jobs Explains His Health Problem: “Hormone Imbalance”–Predicts Recovery by Spring and Will Stay On as CEO
• Ain’t Nobody’s Business If Jobs Is or Isn’t

In 2010 CEO Steve Jobs retained his $1 annual salary and some 5.5 million shares of Apple stock as well. “Since rejoining the company in 1997, Mr. Jobs has not sold any of his shares of the Company’s stock,” the filing reads. “Mr. Jobs holds no unvested equity awards. The Company recognizes that Mr. Jobs’s level of stock ownership significantly aligns his interests with shareholders’ interests.”

COO Tim Cook earned $59.1 million for the fiscal year, thanks to a $5 million bonus and $52.3 million in stock awards. Quite a spike from the $1.64 million he earned in 2009, but well-deserved given his performance, particularly when he filled in for Jobs during his medical leave of absence.

Included in the proxy statement is a shareholder proposal asking Apple to adopt a CEO-succession-planning policy and appended beneath it is a strongly worded statement from the company opposing it. “The Company recognizes that a highly talented and experienced management team, not just the CEO, is critical to Apple’s success,” it reads. “Accordingly, the Board already implements many of the proposed actions and maintains a comprehensive succession plan throughout the organization. While the Board strongly supports the concept of succession planning, it recommends a vote against [the proposal].”

Why?

Evidently, the board feels a written succession plan would give Apple’s rivals unfair advantage by publicizing its objectives and plans. It also fears that identifying potential successors to Jobs would invite other companies to recruit those people away from Apple. Finally, the board feels that its directors and Apple’s leadership can handle succession planning on their own. “The Company takes succession planning seriously, and the board has adopted a comprehensive process to ensure continuity and maintain the superior quality of its management team,” Apple said in the filing. “This process also allows flexibility to adjust to unanticipated changes in the market.”

Plus, Steve doesn’t like talking about it.

BoomTown has obtained the entire memo from Jerry Yang to his employees at Yahoo about his plans to step down as Yahoo CEO.

Yang, a truly nice man–which has been a plus and a minus for him–and an Internet visionary for sure, penned a classy note to the Yahoo (YHOO) troops. And BoomTown, feeling sentimental, will not even make fun of the lack of capitalization this time.

Here is the link to Yahoo’s official press release on Yang’s stepping down as CEO. And here is this blog’s scoop about the move.

And here’s the Yang memo to employees:

To: all yahoos
Fr: Jerry
Subject: update

yahoos -

i wanted to address all of you on the news we’ve just announced. the board of directors and I have agreed to initiate a succession process for the ceo role of yahoo!. roy bostock, our chairman of the board, is leading the effort to identify and assess potential candidates for consideration by the full board. the board will be evaluating and considering both internal and external candidates and has retained heidrick and struggles to help in this effort.

i will be participating in the search for my successor, and i will continue as ceo until the board selects a new ceo. once a successor is named, i will return to my previous role as chief yahoo and continue to serve as a director on the board.

last june, i accepted the board’s request that i assume the ceo role to restructure and reposition the company as a whole in order to more effectively meet the fast-changing needs of both users and partners. since taking on the ceo role, i have had an ongoing dialogue with the board about succession timing. thanks in large measure to your tireless efforts, we have created a more open, competitive yahoo! and we believe the time is now right to transition to a new ceo who can take the company to the next level.

despite the external environment we face, the fact remains that yahoo! is now a significantly different company that is stronger in many ways than it was just 18 months ago. this only makes it all the more essential that we manage this opportunity to leverage the progress up to this point as effectively as possible. i strongly believe that having transformed our platform and better aligned costs and revenues, we have a unique window for the right ceo to take ownership over the next wave of mission-critical decisions facing the company.

all of you know that I have always, and will always bleed purple. i will always do what I think is right for this great company. while this step will be an adjustment for all of us, i know it’s the right one. i look forward to updating you on this process as soon as the board has developments to share, and will continue to do everything i can to make yahoo! fulfill its full potential.

thank you,
jerry

Please see this disclosure related to me and Google.