Did Apple Violate Any Securities Laws When It Decided Not To Fully Disclose The Health Issues of CEO Steve Jobs?

Steve Jobs.

Is there one single person who is more important to a publicly traded company than Steve Jobs?

Think about that one for a second, and you'll probably come up with an answer of "no".

Apple is finding itself facing some criticism after it was revealed that their CEO, Steve Jobs, recently received a liver transplant.

Why are some people mad?

In January, Steve Jobs took a medical leave of absence from the company.

The reason given? Jobs was suffering from a "hormonal imbalance", and he would seek a "relatively simple treatment".

A short while later, Jobs said that his health issues were "more complex", and that he would be extending his leave of absence until the end of June.

Many people called shenanigans right away.

In recent appearances, Jobs seemed to be withering away into nothingness, and many people openly wondered if there wasn't something seriously wrong with his health.

When Jobs originally took his leave of absence, many people felt as though his health was far worse than what was being reported.

There were even rumors at the time that Jobs had died.

Now that it has been revealed that Jobs received a liver transplant (which is obviously a major, life-threatening operation), many investors and market-watchers are spitting mad.

Some are claiming that Apple may have broke certain securities laws by not fully disclosing Jobs' condition at the time.

Warren Buffett recently stated that "whether he (Jobs) is facing serious surgery or not is a material fact".

Firms aren't required to disclose medical details about their executives.

However, isn't the health of Steve Jobs, who is incredibly important to Apple and its shareholders, material information that should be disclosed to shareholders? It's not as though Jobs was just suffering from a really bad flu or an injured back; he was in dire need of an organ transplant.

Apple, for their part, maintains that they did nothing wrong.

What do you think?

Did Apple break any securities laws when they chose not to disclose the fact that their CEO had recently undergone a liver transplant?

Filed under: General Knowledge