Profile
- Name: Steve Jobs
- Company: Apple Computer
- 3-year return: 26%
- Age: 42
- CEO since: 1997
Here's a guy with enough savvy and brainpower to effectively hold down two CEO jobs at once—and do a pretty amazing job at both. We've listed him for his post at Apple, but of course Steve Jobs also runs Pixar, the animation company. Jobs arrested Apple's slow death spiral and even put some oomph back into the pioneering computer firm he helped found. Coming in after a $1 billion loss in fiscal 1997, Jobs turned a $106 million profit—38 percent above Wall Street's consensus target.
A lot of credit goes to a very simple idea: Make computers in different colors. Jobs was the only one who thought to make it happen. The colorful mid-priced iMac has also succeeded by playing down the compatibility conundrum. Apple positioned it as the machine for the Internet, where compatibility questions are no big deal. Behind the scenes, Jobs also streamlined the product line, reduced the head count, consolidated distribution, and slimmed inventory.
Meanwhile, over at Pixar, A Bug's Life nabbed a total $159 million in domestic box office, the highest domestic animated take since Toy Story and third highest ever, after Toy Story and the leader, The Lion King.
Business Philosophy
"The technology isn't the hard part. The hard part is, Who's going to buy it? How are they going to buy it? How do you tell them about it?"
Headaches
Multifold. Apple is still a pip-squeak to the Wintel Goliath. With less than 10 percent of the computer market, Apple needs to lure more software makers into producing programs for the Mac. The company has cut about as much as it can. Now it has a tougher job: Make sales grow. And what's the follow-up? Jobs probably also hasn't been spending as much as he should on research and development. Finally, where is his successor? Pixar, a collegial place, can run without him—but what about Apple? Not a good place for a boss who refuses to remove the "interim" prefix from his CEO title.
Management Style
At Apple, Jobs is a mercurial micromanager—some say nanomanager. Virtually every decision goes by him. "At any time, 10,000 employees are wondering, 'What would Steve say?,' not 'What is the right thing to do?'" said a former Apple exec. At Pixar, realizing that he isn't a film visionary, he leaves the experts to their knitting.
Habits
Known for casual dress, he cruises the office shoeless and in a sport shirt—but don't mistake him for laid-back. Snacks on granola doused with apple juice.
How He Got the Job
The Apple board begged him to return.
True Story
Former Newton palmtop chief Sandy Benett told his underlings that the subsidiary would be folded back into Apple—before Jobs had made an official announcement. After the news leaked, Jobs fired Benett.
Financial Reward
His Apple rewards are minimal—a salary of one dollar a year so that his family is eligible for the health plan. But his 69 percent share of Pixar is worth about $1.3 billion.