Report: SEC reviewing Apple's disclosures over Jobs' health
Securities and Exchange Commission investigators are reviewing the way Apple handled the disclosures surrounding the health of CEO Steve Jobs, according to a Bloomberg report citing a person familiar with the matter. Earlier this month, Jobs announced he would take a six-month medical leave.
Apple, whose CEO's health has been a concern to investors over the past six months following his gaunt appearance at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, announced in mid-December that Jobs would not be speaking at the January Macworld and that Apple would not participate in the event going forward.
At the time, Apple said Jobs would be sitting out Macworld and that its marketing chief would fill in. Then, on the eve of Macworld, Jobs disclosed that he had a hormone imbalance that was "straightforward" in its treatment.
A week after Macworld, Jobs announced new information had come to light regarding his health and it was more complex than earlier thought and that he would be taking a six-month medical leave of absence.
According to the Bloomberg report on Wednesday, SEC investigators are looking into whether Apple's previous disclosures misled investors.
Apple has been enshrouded in controversy over its disclosures regarding Jobs' health, with a number of investors expressing frustration that such disclosures did not come sooner given Jobs' increasingly gaunt appearance.
Apple's share price has also suffered a bout of turbulence with each news report and company disclosure regarding Jobs' health; the iconic leader's vision is considered paramount by many investors in driving the company into new markets and products.
In 2004, Jobs underwent treatment for a rare form of pancreatic cancer, which he has said was successfully treated.
Last week, Bloomberg reported that according to people "monitoring his illness" Jobs is weighing his options regarding a possible liver transplant because of complications following his cancer treatment.
A spokesman for the SEC declined to comment on whether the agency was reviewing Apple's actions regarding Jobs health disclosures.
The SEC does not disclose its investigations unless an enforcement action is taken either through the courts or with an administrative law judge.
Apple was not immediately available for comment.
Dawn Kawamoto covers enterprise security and financial news relating to technology for CNET News. E-mail Dawn. 
So, in the land of lawyers, and particularly with the present Administratino and Congress, we all will have to cope with dueling laws. We all will have to decide what laws we break today to adhere to others.
Obviously if Steve sold Apple short just before his leave was announced, he is trouble, but I think the problem is with the company.
Maybe our savior, President Obama, will CHANGE the way the SEC works (or doesn't, depending on your perspective).
I just saw a report on CNBC last night on how Madoff's Ponzi scheme was being reported to the SEC as far back as the late 1990's, when the scam was ONLY a $10,000,000,000 problem. No matter how the rest of the market faired, this guy kept giving dividends of 12% -- no matter what. Get real ---------- yet, the SEC did nothing.
And as far as Barney Frank and his buddies demanding that money be lent to those who need not account for their income --- this is just one more example of the government involved in catastrophe just waiting to happen.
That the SEC has chosen to go after Apple, AGAIN, is getting more than boring. It makes the SEC look so inept in not realizing what they should be concentrating on. Just imagine if they would have paid attention to Madoff back in the 90's. Yet the best they can do right now, is to try and get a successful company like Apple. Go figure.
It goes without saying, that agencies such as the SEC, and Barney Frank's committee, will screw up again and again, and do so big time. So I figure, I don't need to subsidize this kind of incompetence. I need less of it.
As such, my HOPE is in hearing how Counties and States are going bankrupt. That is, government agencies are being forced to downsize or go away. After all, money badly spent, on those who can't get the job done ---- this should be avoided, not rewarded with more hiring and constant government pay raises ------ when many in the private sector are being laid off, or their time cut back.
So if you see me with a smile on my face when I hear of a county or state going bankrupt, realize that to some of us, this is one of our only hopes in seeing REAL CHANGE. I mean, why should Americans pay for this kind of abuse.
- by douggro January 21, 2009 12:39 PM PST
- So does this mean that if Steve Ballmer gets pneumonia or has a funky bowel movement that Microsoft will be required to disclose that to investors?? I think not..
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
-
- by bergs331 January 22, 2009 8:20 AM PST
- "can we really blame him for wanting to both protect his privacy and the value of Apple stock as much as possible?"
- Like this
-
(10 Comments)This obsessive/compulsive reaction that stockholders have about Jobs' health is nuts, and the SEC is buying into it - perhaps as an overcompensation for the DOJ's past-treatment of Microsoft in the IE anti-trust deal? In any case, given the reaction of the stock price whenever rumors about his health circulate, can we really blame him for wanting to both protect his privacy and the value of Apple stock as much as possible? I know I can't.
If he or Apple are lying about his heath to protect Apple stock then yes, It's illegal.
Proving it, however is another thing