Reports from The Wall Street Journal claims that members of Apple’s board of directors have been exploring possibilities for CEO succession.
Since Steve Jobs went on medical leave this winter, some members of Apple Inc.’s board have discussed CEO succession with executive recruiters and at least one head of a high-profile technology company, according to people familiar with the matter.
The conversations weren’t explicitly aimed at recruiting a new chief executive and were more of an informal exploration of the company’s options, said these people. The directors don’t appear to have been acting on behalf of the full board, some of these people said.
WSJ report mentioned that Apple’s directors have long taken executive succession plans seriously.
Apple’s independent directors take succession planning seriously, said a person familiar with the board’s thinking. This person said Apple’s independent board members discuss management succession in private sessions without Mr. Jobs held at every board meeting for the past 12 years.
“It’s best practice,” this person noted. “Everybody in the room is sworn to secrecy as to what it [the succession] plan is.
The Report notes that Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook is the most likely to be Jobs successor since he has been in charge of Apple’s day-to-day operations in Jobs’ absence. It still unclear whether Mr. Jobs is aware of what’s going on.
