Steve Jobs Named MarketWatch's CEO of the Decade

MarketWatch late yesterday announced that it has selected Apple CEO Steve Jobs as its "CEO of the Decade", recognizing the Apple co-founder for his role in revitalizing the company and revolutionizing portable devices.

"The resurrection of Apple is just the most astounding story that's probably happened in business in at least a decade - you might be able to go further and say it's a half-century," says Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies, a technology-industry think tank. "It's on par with Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell in terms of its total impact."

In parallel with the company's string of successes over the past decade that has seen the iPod, iPhone, and iPad all experience wild success in the marketplace as the Mac has continued to grow its market share, investors have also been rewarded by Apple's success.

During the first decade of the new millennium, Jobs and Apple managed to thrive even when the rest of the country didn't. Apple's shares blossomed, pausing only when Jobs's health was in doubt. While the stock trades at roughly 43 times its level of a decade ago, the S&P 500 has lost about 7%.

Sales are up twelvefold from the end of 2000, surging from $5.4 billion for fiscal 2001 to $65.2 billion for fiscal 2010, which ended in September. Cumulatively, Apple has racked up more than $229 billion in total sales during the decade.

MarketWatch selected Jobs for the award over fellow finalists Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Eric Schmidt of Google, Howard Schultz of Starbucks, and Tim Solso of engine manufacturer Cummins.

Jobs won a similar "CEO of the Decade" award from Fortune last year.