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Apple CEO Steve Jobs sent an all-hands email last week to reassure employees about the Apple's dramatic stock plunge since the beginning of the year — shares are down more than 30 percent.

Wow... what a remarkable last few days. Our stock is being buffeted around by factors a lot larger than ourselves

Jobs continued:

As you can see, we have outperformed many other blue-chip tech companies, including Google. I continue to believe that our fundamentals - our remarkable people, our clear and focused strategy, our new product pipeline, our 200+ retail stores, our $18 billion of cash in the bank with no debt, etc., will serve us well in the coming months and years ... I believe that investors who stay with us will be rewarded as the market's confidence is restored over time. Hang in there.

Jobs attached the above chart to his email, illustrating Apple's performance against competitors Google, Microsoft, HP and Dell.

Our belief: Steve Jobs had to have known that this email was likely to be leaked. Accordingly, he tailored it towards investors rather than Apple employees. By sending an internal email, and then disclaiming responsibility when it leaks, Jobs can give his opinion without getting in trouble with the SEC.

The gambit seems to have done the trick, at any rate: AAPL is up slightly on the day.