Cook watched the energy drain out of his upbeat boss. Later, Petsch summoned Cook back to his office. He told Cook that he was planning to retire as head of Compaq’s operations in a year. He wanted Cook to take his job. Though they had worked together for only eight months, Petsch owned Compaq stock and wanted its share price to increase. As a shareholder, he thought that keeping Cook at the company would ensure that its stock price would rise.
