It's a well-known fact that Apple shares are extremely sensitive to news about CEO Steve Jobs. Is almost seems as though the minute Steve Jobs is photographed looking a bit peaky, Apple shares start to drop.
Barron's recently released its annual list of the 30 most respected CEOs in the world and among them was Steve Jobs. According to AppleInsider, the financial magazine said any list of respected CEOs must start with Steve Jobs. Barron's goes on to say Jobs' "cinematic return" to Apple "triumphantly rescued" the company and "America could use 1,000 more like him."
"Probably the world's most valuable CEO is Steve Jobs of Apple, as shown by stock dips on news of his medical problems. Apple recently hit a record, with a market value topping $200 billion, a reflection of the Street's confidence that a healthy Jobs (at least from what we can tell) continues to keep Apple ahead of the game. Jobs likely accounts for $25 billion or more of Apple's market value."
A third of the CEOs on the list represent technology companies and aside from Steve Jobs, RIM CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis were listed, credited with "starting the BlackBerry obsession." Amazon CEO, Jeffrey Bezos; Head of Netflix, Reed Hastings; Mark Hurd, CEO of HP; Fujio Mitarai from Canon; IBM's Samuel Palmisano; Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle; John Chambers, Cisco; and Ma Huanteng from Tencent.