In the post Steve Jobs era people get nervous when a CEO doesn’t turn up to a presentation due to ill health.
Google’s Larry Page failed to appear at the companies annual meeting last Thursday. Google has given no reason for Page’s absence, other than executive chairman Eric Schmidt claiming that Page had “lost his voice”.
The company has confirmed that Page will also not be attending a couple of other “public speaking” engagements over the next few weeks.
Page sought to confirm that there was nothing seriously wrong in an email to Google staff. Page wrote: “There is nothing seriously wrong with me” adding that he would “continue to run the company,” according to a Wall Street Journal report.
However, the lack of information has lead to speculation that he may have a serious medical condition. ” JP Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth wrote in a note to clients: “We have no specific reason to think there is anything more to Larry’s condition, but we find it odd that the company would already rule him out of the 2Q call which is likely still a few weeks away.”
Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Herman Leung is also hoping for an update from Google. He told WSJ that he has been getting calls from worried investors.
It was some time after his diagnosis with cancer that the board of directors at Apple admitted that Steve Jobs had a life threatening illness.
Author: Karen Haslam, Editor
Macworld editor since 2008, Karen has worked on both sides of the Apple divide, clocking up a number of years at Apple's PR agency prior to joining Macworld two decades ago.
Karen's career highlights include interviewing Apple's Steve Wozniak and discussing Steve Jobs’ legacy on the BBC. Her focus is Mac, but she lives and breathes Apple.