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January 14, 2009 2:06 PM PST

Steve Jobs' health memo to employees

by Stephen Shankland
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Here's the full text of the e-mail Steve Jobs sent to his employees about stepping down as Apple CEO for a medical leave of absence.

Team,

I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well. In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.

In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple's day to day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job. As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out. Our board of directors fully supports this plan.

I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.

Steve

Stephen Shankland writes about a wide range of technology and products, but has a particular focus on browsers and digital photography. He joined CNET News in 1998 and since then also has covered Google, Yahoo, servers, supercomputing, Linux and open-source software, and science. E-mail Stephen, or follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/stshank.
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by Goodbye Helicopter January 14, 2009 3:35 PM PST
uh, gee, how rude is this?
I'm sure that was not emailed to the press.
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by Tom Krazit January 14, 2009 3:57 PM PST
In fact, it was.

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/01/14advisory.html
by Mr. Dee January 14, 2009 4:04 PM PST
Everybody at CNET had to have a little piece of this story eh? I just can see Ina, Tom, Stephen and Dawn negotiating who gets the choice parts.
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by littlejon2 January 14, 2009 5:09 PM PST
We wish Steve and his family all the best and hope for a full and complete recovery. God bless.
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by AppleSuxLeo January 14, 2009 6:03 PM PST
His demise was PRE-ceded by the Palm event. He has come down with palmpreosis.
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by GEOPOLY January 14, 2009 6:41 PM PST
AppleSuxLeo, Do something good or constructive with your life
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by gopnick January 15, 2009 5:45 AM PST
This is terrible for Apple. Terrible, terrible news.
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by Zandora777 January 15, 2009 5:55 AM PST
"In order to take myself out of the limelight"... yeah, we all know how much Steve hates the limelight.
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by ecotony January 15, 2009 7:26 AM PST
Best wishes to Steve and his family.
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