Apple and Steve Jobs have found themselves on yet another list of top something-or-others. This time it’s BusinessWeek’s round-up of 50 “star performers” in the ten sectors of the S&P 500. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Apple made the cut, coming in at #6. Here’s what the BW had to say:
The Cupertino (Calif.) company has become the poster child for market fears of a slowdown in consumer spending. Chief Executive Steve Jobs has signaled that, despite any recession, Apple won’t be trimming its R&D budget. With $18 billion in cash on hand, many expect the product- obsessed Jobs to go on the offensive. He has already announced a corporate version of the iPhone.That’s the “damn the torpedos” Jobs we know and love. Apple was bested in the trankings by Coach, Gilead Sciences, Allegheny Technologies, Verizon, and Questar—fully half of which, I’ll admit, I’ve never heard of before.
Tech rivals Microsoft and Google came in at #41 and #34 respectively, which, if nothing else, reflects my ability to pick out small blue-tinted thumbnails of Steve Ballmer and Eric Schmidt—a skill I’m not entirely sure how to leverage, to be honest. Oh, and Avon, which is headed by Apple board member Andrea Jung, made #18 too. So we got that going for us, which is nice.
