CBS MarketWatch named Apple CEO Steve Jobs to its list of winners in naming the Winners and Losers of 2003. Jobs joins California’s new governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ebay CEO Meg Whitman and JetBlue boss David Neeleman on the list of winners.
“At a time when legit music downloads were catching on about as quickly as, well, Apple computers, Steve Jobs came along and did it right with ITunes,” said Shawn Langlois for CBS MarketWatch.
“Still, the most successful online music seller isn’t profitable, but its intent has always been to drive sales of IPod music players. With nearly 20 million songs sold since its April launch, not only has the cult of Apple embraced Jobs’ brainchild with the vigor that only its members can muster, but the concept has also sent competitors like Dell and Microsoft scurrying to get their own music services up and running,” he concluded.
CBS MarketWatch’s Winners list is somewhat of a rogue’s gallery, as well — others on the list include “spammers and other cyber-pests” and Dick Grasso, the New York Stock Exchange chief who, as Langlois put it, “walked away from the biggest casino in the world with $140 million, and he didn’t even have to pay for the drinks.”
As for the losers, CBS MarketWatch picked — among others — ex-CEO of ImClone Systems Sam Waksal, Tyco’s extravagant ex-chief Dennis Kozlowski, AOL’s Steve Case, Putnam Investment’s ex-CEO Larry Lasser, and the New York Times, for its reputation-damaging incident with fabricating journalist Jayson Blair.