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Steve Jobs may have deemed his current health issues to be significant enough to warrant a medical leave of absence from Apple Inc., but rumours of his proposed re-election to the board of The Walt Disney Company suggest his condition is perhaps not a major worry.
Steve Jobs standing for Disney board re-election. Image: chakote/Flickr.
More pointedly, while Apple’s long-serving CEO has indicated he’ll return to the fray in June of 2009, UK broadsheet The Financial Times (FT) has reported that Jobs intends to hold his directorial position with Disney by standing for re-election in March.
Jobs became of member of the entertainment giant’s board of directors after the company acquired award-winning 3D animation studio Pixar in 2006. Jobs was serving as the studio’s chief executive officer at that time.
Although Jobs takes no monetary gain from his position with Disney, which is said to include acting as a special technology advisor to long-time friend and Disney CEO Bob Iger, standing for re-election has raised questions from industry watchers.
“A directorship is not an honorary position,” commented Charles Elson, professor of corporate governance at the University of Delaware, in the FT report. “If he’s said he can’t run Apple, how on Earth can he [stand for re-election with Disney]?”
According to Elson, non-executive directors connected to large public companies are still expected to commit perhaps 250 hours per year to their positions.
The Walt Disney Company has apparently refused to comment on Jobs’ re-election decision, while Jobs himself was reportedly less than amiable when contacted by Bloomberg.
“Why don’t you guys leave me along – why is this important,” he pleaded in a telephone conversation with the financial news outlet.
Adding to the speculation surrounding Apple’s iconic CEO, Bloomberg has cited sources “monitoring [Jobs’] illness” as saying a potential liver transplant could be on the horizon due to complications related to treatment Jobs received in 2004 during a battle with pancreatic cancer.
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