MATT LAUER, co-host:
Back now at 7:42 with the sudden announcement from
Apple
CEO
Steve Jobs
that he is taking another
medical leave
of absence. TODAY national correspondent
Amy Robach
is here with details on that.
Amy
, good morning.AMY ROBACH reporting:
Matt
, good morning to you. This is the second
medical leave
in two years for the
Apple
billionaire and his third since
2004
. He’s already battled
pancreatic cancer
and had a
liver transplant
, and this news is raising questions about
Jobs
‘
health
and how
Apple
will be impacted.Mr. STEVE JOBS:
And we call it the
iPad
.ROBACH:
He’s the genius behind the products that have changed the world. As CEO of
Apple
,
Steve Jobs
is used to getting attention.Mr. JOBS:
Anywhere I want to go, anything I want to make bigger.ROBACH:
Now he’s back in the spotlight for a different reason; on Monday
Jobs
announced he’s taking another
leave of absence
to focus on his
health
. In an e-mail to
Apple
employees he said, “I love
Apple
so much and hope to be back as soon as I can. My family and I would deeply appreciate respect for our privacy.”Mr. JOBS:
I’m very happy to be here today with you all.ROBACH:
It’s the latest
health
scare for the 55-year-old CEO. In
2004
,
Jobs
revealed he had
pancreatic cancer
, he declared that surgery to remove the cancer was a success. In
2008
, while introducing the newest
iPod
,
Jobs
looked thin and frail, sparking rumors that his
health
was slipping again.
Jobs
joked about it, saying, “Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” Two years ago in January of
2009
, a stunning announcement,
Jobs
took another
leave of absence
to deal with
health
problems, he had a
liver transplant
and was back at work after a six-month break.Mr. JOBS:
I’m back at
Apple
, loving every day of it.ROBACH:
Now a third leave, and though
Jobs
hasn’t said what’s wrong, cancer experts say in cases like this, in general, there are signs of hope.Dr. NICHOLAS NISSEN (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center):
There’s a very unique kind of
pancreatic cancer
, these tumors grow slower and they have a much better prognosis in general. If a patient has cancer come back there are a host of treatment options available, some of which can result in, I think, dramatic recovery.ROBACH:
Already, industry experts are asking about the future of
Apple
without its creative powerhouse.Mr. ANDY SERWER (Managing Editor, Fortune Magazine):
No one can fill
Steve Jobs
‘ shoes. He is the
Albert Einstein
of our time. He is in charge of everything at that company and when he is no longer there to do that, it’s going to be a very different place.ROBACH:
Apple
releases its quarterly earnings report today and
Steve Jobs
will remain CEO. And in his e-mail he said he will be involved in all major decisions. During his leave, chief operating officer
Tim Cook
will be in charge of day-to-day operations.
Matt
:LAUER:
All right,
Amy
.
Thank you very much
.
What’s next
for
Jobs
‘
health
and his company? Dr.
Nancy Snyderman
is
NBC
‘s chief medical editor,
Jim Cramer
is the host of ”
Mad Money
” on CNBC. Good morning to both of you.Dr. NANCY SNYDERMAN reporting:
Hi, Matt.
LAUER:
Nancy
, let me start with you. You know, we have to be really careful about speculating here, we don’t know and we have precious little information. That e-mail he sent to his employees said, quote, “The board of directors has granted me a
medical leave
of absence so I can focus on my
health
.” So the question is, is it a continuation of something he’s had or something new? And we don’t know.SNYDERMAN:
Jobs
and his family has kept this very, very close to the vest. And you’re right, there is going to be a lot of speculation right now. The kind of tumor he had, an eyelet subcancer of the pancreas, is the best possible kind if you’re going to get one, but when it spreads to the liver, it can spread quickly. We know that he was diagnosed in
2004
, he underwent a
liver transplant
in
2009
, and any time you have an
organ transplant
you go on immunosuppressive drugs. And in a
cancer patient
, that always concerns doctors because if you reduce a person’s ability to fight off tumor, there could be new tumor, he could be rejecting a liver, there could be infection, and at least those three things
go to the top
of the list.LAUER:
You talk about that rejection of the — of the donated liver. I’d always thought that happened more quickly. Might it happen at this stage of the game, a year after the transplant?SNYDERMAN:
It doesn’t always happen quickly and it can be a slow process. And the concern here is that if you look at the kind of tumor he’s had and the treatment he’s had — there are only about 20 cases like this in the literature. One-year survival rate’s about 80 percent, but that survival rate drops to about 40 percent after five years. So certainly people in the know, and there’s a small group of doctors who are really so expert in this field and those people have been consulted, are walking a very fine line about what kind of information they’re giving and what kind of prognosis. I’m sure at this point he’s been given alternatives and treatment plans and this now becomes a very quiet and personal conversation.LAUER:
All right,
Nancy
, thanks very much. Let me move over to a different side.SNYDERMAN:
You bet.LAUER:
And,
Jim
, obviously…JIM CRAMER reporting:
Right.LAUER:
…most importantly, his
health
and well-being.CRAMER:
Right.LAUER:
But the fact is he is inescapably linked as the face of one of the coolest and most successful tech companies in the world. So what’s the impact on
Apple
?CRAMER:
Right. Remember, this guy’s the greatest manufacturer of our time, he’s
Henry Ford
. He’s the greatest inventor of our time, he’s
Thomas Alva Edison
. What people don’t realize, he’s also the greatest retailer of our time, he’s
Sam Walton
. Put these all together, you are going to get a company that’s not as good. This man, however, has assembled the single best bench I have ever seen because this happened once before.
Tim Cook
is able. There’d be many people who will fill his role, but he’ll be missed.LAUER:
We’ll talk about
Tim Cook
in a second. Timing of this, the announcement of him taking a
leave of absence
for medical purposes came yesterday, which was a holiday here, the markets were closed. Today
Apple
releases its quarterly earnings. Was there a plan at work here?CRAMER:
I have to believe there was to some degree because this is a very
big day
for
Apple
, better to get this out so that people aren’t fooled. I think that people will feel much better. It’s also — it’s the right corporate thing to do, it’s the right ethical to do because you buy the stock and this news comes out next week, I think you got an instant lawsuit against
Apple
.LAUER:
And real quickly, you mentioned
Tim Cook
, he’s the man who for the interim period will be
taking over
. He’s a — he’s a — clearly a competent businessman. Can he keep the cool in the company?CRAMER:
Stock went down 8 percent last time we had this announcement, up 60 percent over the next six months because, I think, of the great hand that
Cook
gave it. I think this man is terrific and the team is great.