Questions asking whether Tim Cook could mimic the late CEO Steve Jobs was exactly what the Apple co-founder wanted to avoid, former vice President Al Gore now says. Gore, an Apple board member, said Jobs urged executives: “Don’t ask what Steve would have done.” Instead, the iconic Apple leader said: “Follow your own voice,” Gore recalls.
Jobs appeared to not want a repeat of the mistake by Disney’s board of directors, who tried to reproduce the mindset of the animation great, Walt Disney. Jobs became Disney’s largest shareholder after the studio purchased his computer animation firm Pixar.
Instead, Jobs promoted “cultivating a team” able to cooperate and continue operating Apple after he left, according to Gore. “Everyone on that management team could be CEO of a world-class corporation,” Gore told an audience at the Wall Street Journal’s AsiaD technology conference.
On other matters, Gore has little confidence AT&T’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA will survive Justice Department objections. “My guess is that the Justice Department so rarely undertakes an initiative like the one they took against that merger. I think it’ll be hard to overturn that measure. Both companies will try to put it back together, but they’d be well advised to start looking at other strategies, Gore commented.”
The U.S. Justice Department argues the $39 billion proposed purchase of one carrier by another would “substantially lessen competition” and violates antitrust law.
