To help us all prognosticate where things may go for Apple from here, Wired took a look at what happened at three other iconic tech giants when their founders moved on and left new leadership in charge.
The results were mixed at best. At Microsoft, Steve Ballmer took over for Bill Gates, and the company has been losing dominance and share price ever since. At Sun things went very badly indeed, where the company went into the 2008 economic crisis without enough cash on the balance sheet to weather falling orders, and wound up with no choice but to sell itself to Oracle.
Intel, on the other hand, is faring better than either Microsoft or Sun and provides the most ideal model for Apple. With an orderly succession plan since Andy Groves, the last of its three co-founders stepped down, Intel has remained solidly profitable, and highly competitive, though its stock price is suffering in the “Post-PC Era.”
Read more at Wired.
