We’d like to give ailing Apple Inc. (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs the benefit of the doubt, but we have to admit that his announcement yesterday that his absence from MacWorld this week and his gaunt appearance are due to a hormonal imbalance seem a bit fishy. Apparently we weren’t alone.
According to reports, a prominent neuroendocrinologist at the University of California, San Francisco, said Jobs’ comments just don’t seem to add up. That, he said, leads him to believe the Apple executive and pancreatic cancer survivor instead could be suffering from “anything from hyperthyroidism to a new form of cancer.”
The fact that Jobs is so closely linked to the identity and success of Apple would seem to give credence to any likelihood of a health scare cover up. Jobs co-founded the company, led it as it launched its first pioneering products, left, and then returned to revive the company with the creation of the wildly popular iPod and iPhone products.
Whatever the specifics of his health, the fact that Jobs is again facing health issues of some sort and on Monday, just as MacWorld was readying to open, announced he would not appear, is only raising more questions on how long he can successfully lead the company. And while Apple’s stock initially rallied on the hormonal imbalance news, a Dow Jones story on the CNNMoney.com site this week reported that Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster noted Apple stock lost much of its luster upon Jobs’ initial announcement of his pancreatic cancer and believes Apple shares could lose as much as 25 percent when Jobs eventually does decide to step down.
