Rep insists Oppenheimer is 'extremely happy'

The CFO of the Blackstone Group, Laurence Tosi, was recently approached to see if he would be willing to take on the same job at Apple, say three Bloomberg sources. Two of the sources claim that Tosi then informed Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman he was planning to stay. An Apple spokesman, Steve Dowling, insists that the company is "not conducting a CFO search."

Any such hunt on Apple's part would be particularly unusual given that the company already has a CFO, Peter Oppenheimer. The executive "loves the company and is extremely happy in his role," according to Dowling. Apple is also in an extremely strong financial situation, with tens of billions of dollars in reserve and several top-selling products. Just this week Apple surpassed a $300 billion market cap, making it the second-most valuable company in the world, dwarfed only by Exxon.

Oppenheimer has held the same post at Apple since 2004, when he replaced Fred Anderson. He first joined the company still earlier, in 1996, prior to the reinstatement of Steve Jobs as CEO.

It's speculated that Tosi would benefit Apple with more experience in corporate acquisitions. A private equity firm, Blackstone bought over 30 companies last year, whereas Apple only absorbed four, despite its massive clout. This did however include the likes of PA Semi, which has allowed Apple to design its own processors.

by MacNN Staff