1. Steve Jobs' Medical Leave -- And Return
As 2008 drew to a close, investors clamored for Apple to be more forthright about the health of its iconic CEO and chief visionary Steve Jobs. When Apple announced that Jobs wouldn't give his customary keynote at Macworld 2009, rumors intensified and some analysts saw fit to downgrade their outlook on the stock.
In mid-January, Jobs acknowledged his weight loss in a public statement and claimed it was due to a hormone imbalance. A week later, Jobs revealed plans to take a five-month leave of absence from Apple, and Apple COO Tim Cook took over the interim CEO role. Jobs didn't show at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in June, and a few weeks later it emerged that he'd received a liver transplant in the spring, although Apple maintained its customary silence on the issue.
In September at Apple's "Rock 'n' Roll" event in San Francisco, Jobs made his first public appearance of the year and finally confirmed that he had had a liver transplant. "I now have the liver of a mid-20s person who died in a car crash and was generous enough to donate their organs. I am alive because of their generosity," Jobs told attendees at the event.
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