Steve Jobs resigns as Apple CEO

Steve Jobs resigned as the CEO of Apple, Wednesday.

Tim Cook has been named CEO and Jobs has been elected chairman of the board effective immediately.

Jobs’ letter of resignation was made public on Wednesday in a press release. Click here to read it.

Shares of Apple were briefly halted after the announcement was made public. When trading resumed, shares were down 6.1 per cent.  It closed down 5.5 per cent.

Jobs has been on a medical leave of absence from Apple since January 17.

He co-founded Apple in the late 1970s with Steve Wozniak, Ronald Wayne and Mike Markkula.

In 1984 he resigned from Apple and founded computer platform development company NeXT.  In 1996 Apple bought out NeXT and Jobs returned to the company. He was made CEO of Apple in 1997.

Jobs has had a number of health problems over the last decade.

In 2004 he announced he had been diagnosed with a cancerous tumor in his pancreas.

In January 2009 he took a six-month leave of absence to focus on his health after announcing he had been suffering from health related issues.  He then underwent a liver-transplant in April 2009.

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Press release: Letter from Steve Jobs

To the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Community:

I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple”s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.

As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.

I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.

I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.

Steve