Here's a Dow Jones piece. I can't resist from posting the whole article instead of a link...
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(UPDATE) Jobs Reportedly Will Take Apple Chairman Post On Interim Basis
Dow Jones Online News, Wednesday, August 06, 1997 at 10:39
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Further straying from its longtime go-it-alone
culture, struggling Apple Computer Inc. Wednesday announced a broad
cross-licensing technology alliance with software giant Microsoft Corp.,
which will invest $150 million to take a small, nonvoting stake in
Apple.
The announcement was among a flurry of moves detailed Wednesday at
the MacWorld Expo, the premier trade show for Apple's Macintosh computer
products. Shares of Apple (AAPL) were up $6, or 30% at $25.75 in very
heavy trading Wednesday morning.
Reports had swirled that company co-founder Steve Jobs would be named
chairman on an interim basis but Apple said it won't name a chairman
until it names a new chief executive offcier. Jobs is giving the keynote
speech at MacWorld.
Meanwhile, Apple shook up its board of directors. Intuit CEO William
Campbell and former International Business Machines Corp. Chief
Financial Officer Jerome York were named to the board. Confirming
reports made last week, Larry Ellison, the colorful CEO of database
giant Oracle Corp., and Jobs will also join Apple's board.
Gone from Apple's board are longtime Apple kingmaker Mike Markkula,
Katherine Hudson and Bernard Goldstein. The resignations follow the
recent departures of Delano Lewis and Gilbert Amelio.
The New York Times last week reported Jobs was also trying to recruit
John Warnock, chairman of graphics and printing software maker Adobe
Inc., and Daniel Case, an investment banker at brokerage firm Hambrecht
& Quist Inc., to join Apple's board.
Regarding the technology alliance, Apple will bundle Microsoft's
Internet Explorer browser software with the Mac operating system as the
default browser in future releases. Microsoft said it will continue to
develop versions of its popular Office software suite, Internet Explorer
and other programs for the Mac platform Apple. Additionally, Microsoft
and Apple plan to collaborate on technology to ensure compatibility
between their respective versions of Java and other programming
languages.
The Apple-Microsoft relationship has taken several turns in recent
years. Microsoft, already the biggest supplier of Macintosh software,
earlier this year set up a 100-person unit to work on business software
for the Macintosh.
Although the companies at one time were bitter enemies, Microsoft
generates a substantial amount of revenue from software for the Mac
platform. Although Microsoft doesn't break down the numbers, analysts
estimate Mac software accounts for about 10% to 15% of Microsoft's
revenue.
And because the Mac is one of the few viable alternatives to the
nearly ubiquitous Windows operating systems, keeping Apple afloat helps
Microsoft fend off antitrust challenges to Microsoft's dominant position
in the software industry. Apple no longer represents a significant
threat to Windows, which runs more than 80% of the world's PCs. Last
year, Microsoft launched a quiet but ambitious effort to help small
software companies write Internet programs for Apple.
The latest moves are the latest installment of the ongoing soap opera
at the ailing company. Jobs reportedly rejected offers from the board to
become chairman and CEO but recent actions indicate he's taking charge
anyway. Jobs is a member of the committee charged with finding a new CEO
within three months. Since Gilbert Amelio was ousted last month, Jobs
has been running meetings, setting product direction and firing off
internal memos to the troops. Jobs reportedly wants to oversee Apple's
affairs long enough to point Apple in a positive direction and hire a
credible CEO.
Amid a raft of news in recent months about Apple's dwindling market
share, Apple said sales of its revamped operating system software that
went on sale July 26 are far exceeding expectations - up to triple the
company's forecasts.
One reason is pent-up demand by loyal Macintosh users. Apple
neglected for years to update its operating software, enabling Microsoft
Corp.'s Windows to match many of the aging Mac's easy-to-use features
and in some cases surpass them. While Apple's latest system, the Mac OS
8, isn't as vast an overhaul as the Windows 95 launch two years ago, the
new software boosts the Mac's performance in several sought-after ways.
The sales jump suggests that a loyal core of publishers, graphic
designers and consumers are still passionate about their Macs despite
wide defections by customers to computers that run on Windows.
Apple Wednesday also introduced a number of new models in its Power
Macintosh line, peripheral products, development tools and an enhanced
version of its software for runnning Unix and Windows-based applications
on a Mac.
Separately, a cloud hangs over the future of Apple's fledgling effort
to expand its market for Macintosh computers by licensing to other
manufacturers. Power Computing Corp., one of the biggest Mac cloners,
has urged MacWorld attendees to hold up protest signs during Jobs'
speech. Power Computing and other cloners are upset over a delay by
Apple to license the newest version of the Macintosh operating system.
Apple late last week reached a licensing deal with Taiwan's Umax
Computer Corp. for the newest software but seems increasingly reluctant
to share future advances. The pact is believed to include the other
major cloners, Power Computing and Motorola Inc.
However, Apple hasn't committed to licensing its next-generation
operating system, code-named Rhapsody, or software needed for the
cloners to begin manufacturing Mac-compatibles using a new hardware
design called the Common Reference Hardware Platform, or CHRP.
The licensing concerns of the cloners are based, in large part, on
new uncertainties caused by the return of Jobs to a position of power at
the Cupertino, Calif., company he co-founded in 1976. Although Apple's
chief financial officer, Fred Anderson, has been leading the
negotiations with cloners since a dispute broke out early this year,
Jobs has endorsed an increasingly hard-line stance by Anderson. The
company is believed to want to curtail the cloners' success in
cannibalizing Apple's sales of its most powerful Macintoshes. That
high-end market is by far Apple's most lucrative.
About 60,000 show attendees were expected at MacWorld, about the same
as last year - not bad considering the plunge in sales of Mac computers.
Macs accounted for 2.9% of all PCs sold through retail stores in the
first quarter, down from 10.2% a year ago, according to Computer
Intelligence, a market research firm.
Copyright (c) 1997 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. |
