Apple selloff: How much did Steve lose?
It may come as some consolation to the investors who lost their shirts as Apple (AAPL) shares collapsed over the past month that nobody lost more, at least on paper, than its CEO.
As the company's largest individual stockholder, with 5,546,451 shares directly owned, Steve Jobs (were he paying attention) could have watched the value of his holdings drop from $1.126 billion just before Christmas to $771 million at Wednesday's close, a paper loss of $354 million.
Over at Walt Disney Co. (DIS), where Jobs is also the single largest stockholder, the news is even more grim. The value of the 138 million Disney shares he owns (thanks to the sale of Pixar two years ago) fell from a pre-Christmas high of $4.588 billion to $3.935 billion yesterday, a loss of $652 million.
That's a total hit of just over $1 billion in the space of a month.
Of course, these are just paper losses. Like any shareholder, Jobs doesn't actually lose a penny unless he sells his stock at the lower price. But given the fact that his annual salary is once again a symbolic $1, this might not be a bad time for Apple's board to start looking for another way to compensate its hard-working CEO. At least that's how Fake Steve Jobs sees it:
I just called Peter Oppenheimer and told him to get into position with the options machine and be ready to begin firing on my order. We're going to wait and see how bad things get today. I think this might be a golden opportunity for a handful of top insiders to make some quick money. Ideally we'd like to see the stock get down below $100. Keep your fingers crossed! Daddy needs a bigger jet. (link)
You call this news!!! So what, he hasen't even sold one stinking share, he hasen't lost anything. But I do have some really, really great news…. listen… I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to GEICO. HA!!! p.s. GEICO if you read this you owe my a lifetime of free car insurance….
News from outside the reality distortion field? Philip your not doing a bad job distorting reality! I guess you need to get your kicks in while you can, you know that that Apple's stock will be not be down for long.
Actually to the "priceless comment" below, losing money in your stocks is not actually priceless, but you can actually figure out your loss! Multiply the loss per share by the number of shares, this should get you a nice plump loss figure.
Anyone that will sell Apple stock is a fool. The original iPod is the only item over 8 months old. iPod touch, iPhone, New Mac's, Macbook Air, Apple TV, movie rentals on iTunes lot of items that will sell like crazy, just TRY to walk into an Apple store these days.
apple will fall to the mid 80's within the next ten trading days…sorry guys but apples day in the sun is over! The tremors from last week are real deal signs of what's in store, any fund with half a brain is going to dumping stocks like apple and move the money to coke, booze, and toilet paper.
Whilst it's only an issue if he plans on selling his stock the experts are now saying it will take up to three years for the stock to get back up to $200 again. Their best sales quarter ever didn't help one bit. And with Nancy Heinen and Fred Anderson both gone there's no one to turn to if he needs to make another quick buck.
Wow, what a total waste of electrons! Like Jobs is the only CEO to ever lose money in his own company?
I don't think Jobs is in it for the money (of which I am sure he has more than enough to spare). He believes in what he does, passionately, and the success of the Apple product line (whether you believe in it or not) is the proof in the pudding.
Who gives a shit what Steve Jobs lost! It's only on paper. What's real is the millions of dollars ( real dollars) shareholders lost as a result of Apple's BSD guidance and mickey mouse Finance Team that caused this sell-off. Peter and Steve should attend a Guidance seminar being ginen by Microsoft, Reseach in Motion, and Qualcomm at the San Fran Hilton. Perhaps they both can attend if their not playing with their new gadgets and rehersing for the 2009 Macworld!
wait a minute … i just spent 900 bucks on WDW tickets last christmas … and now you're telling my "MANNN" is lossing money 
iphone – 400 dollars
imac – 1200 dollars
one day pass to disney – 80 dollars
losing money with your stocks — priceless
for every apple and disney shareholders take a walk at WDW!!!
Remember… Compensation doesn't always come from salary,
example
"But in Apple's 2007 fiscal year ended Sept. 28, Apple shares more than doubled to about $153. For calendar 2007, the stock rose 133% to $198. That stellar performance is why longtime Apple investors are still sitting on big gains and Jobs has seen his stake in the company nearly double in value since fiscal 2006 to nearly $770 million."
Not bad for a 1 years earnings.
I think the better headline is "How much has steve Jobs made in the last three years!"
Think about it
ex ped: $3?
Apple just posted record profits for the last quarter and has been gaining market share for years. This company is poised for continuous growth for years to come. Those selling Apple stock right now are not wise.
Philip, who are you ? are you the heir? or you couldn't find anything to write ? You are worried about a billionaire loosing few millions on paper when there are many people out there who have lost their jobs and means of life.
What a waste of your time.
So, to answer the question of your headline, as you pointed out three times in your column, "Not a dime." In other words, nothing to see here folks, move along.
So, I'm confused – why even bother writing this "news item"? Are you on some kind of word quota?
I can't believe this is actually news. Oh my, what a tragedy, a billionare just lost millions of dollars on paper (not an actual loss), and there still is no risk, to him or his family, or his kids, or his kids' kids', or anyone in his family in the foreseeable future, for that matter, that they will be denied any high standard of living. They still get to have their luxurious cars, houses, boats, and everything else.
Wow, great news, exactly what people need to hear as this is so important to readers on this web site.
haha just reading some of the comments that were left when this was published,saying apple had their day. haaaaaaaa