Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs, calling on the company’s “egalitarian, entrepreneurial” heritage, is axing sabbaticals and cash bonuses for executives and cutting severance pay.
Jobs, who has become Apple’s de facto leader, announced the changes in an electronic mail memo to employees Tuesday.
The memo, signed “Steve and the Executive Team,” also calls for more modest travel arrangements and continued consolidation of employees.
The message, reported by newspapers and on-line publications, is the latest evidence that Jobs is essentially running the company he co-founded 21 years ago–despite his refusal of the posts of chairman and chief executive officer.
Apple, based in Cupertino, has been struggling against stubborn financial losses, disappointing sales and eroding market share.
Last month, the board of directors ousted Chairman and CEO Gil Amelio, and last week Apple replaced most of its board and announced an alliance with Microsoft Corp.
“Today we are taking a few more steps which will begin to take Apple back to its roots as a more egalitarian, entrepreneurial company,” Jobs said in his memo.
Apple, he announced, is eliminating cash bonuses for executives, replacing them with stock options.
Meanwhile, Amelio and former Vice Chairman Mike Markkula filed to sell 620,000 Apple shares.
Amelio, 54, filed Monday to sell 120,000 shares. He was forced out of the company July 9, the third chief executive in four years to leave after failing to turn Apple around.
Markkula, a former chairman, director and early investor who put up $250,000 to get Apple off the ground, filed to sell 500,000 shares, according to the Washington Service, which tracks shareholder sales.
As of Wednesday’s market close, Amelio’s shares were worth more than $2.65 million, and Markkula’s more than $11 million.
