After saying he was staying Steve Jobs has announced he taking a medical leave of absence. The stock price has dropped by more than half in the last year from 200 to 81, now below its 200 WEEK moving average. Mac laptop and iPod sales are slowing. Just how many new laptops and toys like iPhones and iPods do we need?
But the question I pose is this. We are said to be a service rather than a manufacturing economy. Yet look at the balance sheet of any company. Is there account labeled TALENT? Yes we can account for an intangible like a patent or goodwill, if we pay for it or acquire it. But talent, well the stock price can swell in its price earnings ratio which AAPL did. But the questions are
How much is AAPL worth without Steve Jobs, how much of the creativity in a large company can be attributed to one person? The answer will be reflected in the stock price, not the balance sheet. Have you thought about that as an accounting student? Sports franchises rise and fall on the strength of their player roster, well, at least if they play well. As the Dallas Cowboys recently demonstrated, that is not always the case.
Take a look at the stock price chart of AAPL, is it headed for 50 or 100? Will that depend on their balance sheet, or whether folks think there is talent beyond Steve Jobs? The market will let us know.
Professor Elam 
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