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Steve Jobs

Only one CEO could beat Steve Jobs

Matt Krantz
USA TODAY
A movie about former Apple CEO Steve Jobs will open Oct. 9, 2015, in limited release.

Prepare to relive the days of Apple (AAPL) co-founder Steve Jobs as the movie opens to limited release Friday. But one CEO isn't getting a movie despite being an even bigger hero in the eyes of investors.

Rodney Sacks, head of energy drink maker Monster Beverage (MNST), is the only CEO of a company currently in the Standard & Poor's 500 that delivered a bigger stock price jump than Jobs during his fabled tenure as CEO of Apple, according to a USA TODAY analysis of data from S&P Capital IQ. The analysis only includes CEOs that served the entire period that Jobs was CEO.

Shares of Monster surged 40,097% between Sept. 16, 1997 when Jobs was named interim CEO through his resignation on Aug. 24, 2011. That stock price increase at Monster blows away the still impressive 6,759% stock-price increase at Apple during Jobs' tenure.

Monster Beverage shares outperformed Apple during the Jobs tenure between Sept. 16, 1997 and Aug. 24, 2011

That's not to say no other current S&P 500 stocks have topped Apple during the Jobs days. Single-cup brewing maker Keurig Green Mountain (GMCR) and biotech Celgene (CELG) both topped the Jobs-led Apple gaining 25,437% and 6,881%, respectively. But both of those companies had more than one CEO during the Jobs years.

That's what makes Sacks so unique, while he's nowhere as well-known as Jobs. Sacks, 65, has been Chairman and CEO of Monster Beverage since November 1990 back when the company was called Hansen Natural. Before taking the CEO role, he was chief financial officer between Nov. 1990, shortly after the company emerged from bankruptcy protection, through July 1996. Sacks earned $7.6 million in total reported compensation in 2014.

Few CEOs can tout being at the head of a company the entire time when a stock delivers such massive gains — which probably explains one reason Jobs attracted Hollywood's attention. Take for instance Keurig Green Mountain, which outperformed Apple's stock during Jobs' run. During that time, though, the company had two CEOs. Founder Bob Stiller was CEO until 2007 when he was replaced by Lawrence Blanford. The company currently has another CEO, Brian Kelley. And at Celgene, Sol Barer became CEO May 1, 2006 but stepped down June 16, 2010, more than a year before Jobs gave up his CEO title to become chairman.

All this is somewhat of ancient history for investors. Investors are more interested if Apple's current CEO, Tim Cook, can regain the innovation that made Apple such a big winner during the Jobs days. Shares of Apple are down again Thursday $1.95, or 1.8%, to $108.83, pushing them into the red for the year. Investors are worried a slowdown in China will hurt Apple's growth and wonder if routine upgrades to its smartphone will be enough to fuel growth.

But if Hollywood is looking for another stock-price hero, there's a monster of an option.

Follow USA TODAY's Matt Krantz on Twitter @mattkrantz.

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