Apple stock shaken by more rumors about Jobs' health

Shares of Apple Inc. were on their way to a gain today, with the rest of the market. Then came yet another report that CEO Steve Jobs was in failing health.

Apple stock sank from about $88 to $84.72 in a matter of minutes shortly before 10 a.m. PST, then recouped about half of the loss to finish at $86.29, down 32 cents for the day.

The new report on Jobs’ status, on the Gizmodo website, cited an anonymous source saying he was in "rapidly declining" health.

The Apple co-founder, who is 53, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003, but has said he was cured with surgery. As The Times reported Dec. 17, however, "Appearances over the summer, in which Jobs looked unusually thin and drawn, renewed questions about his health."

Rumors flared again this month after Apple said Jobs wouldn’t deliver the keynote address at January's Macworld Conference & Expo, the venue the company has used for more than a decade to unveil products.

It makes sense that Jobs' health is an issue for Apple shareholders. But that also means there's an incentive for traders to take advantage of the situation, by spreading rumors, or playing them. (Note, though, that this is not a heavily "shorted" stock; the number of shorted Apple shares was just 21 million in mid-December, of 890 million shares outstanding.)

Apple has consistently declined to comment about Jobs’ medical issues. And it didn’t change its policy today, telling Bloomberg News: "If ever Steve or the board of directors decide that Steve isn’t able to do his job, I’m sure they’ll let you know."

Apple shares are down 56.4% this year, significantly worse than the 41.5% drop in the Nasdaq composite index.

-- Tom Petruno

Photo: Steve Jobs (credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Comments

[Phil Peterson]

Lets all hope and pray that Steven Jobs is in good health, and if he is not, lets all wish him a speedy recovery. He is our hero in IT, and the one man that has done more for computer interfaces then anyone, in regard to spreading the Good News of GUI, and eloquent interface design.

[Kay Mode]

Stock aside (that's just material excess), I wish Steve the best and hope that he is with us for many more years to come. Certainly a great man and a great innovator - someone who has changed the face of computing as we know it.

[David Batterson]

As for Jobs' innovation with interfaces, let's not forget the fact that Jobs stole the GUI from Xerox PARC (which eventually sued Apple, but Xerox waited too long and the lawsuit was tossed).

[Jamie]

To David Batterson, I am afraid that your information is incorrect. That was what was stated to Steve by Bill Gates after Steve accused Bill of stealing with Windows on the NEC computers. The reality is that Xerox could not get any support from their own company because the dinosaurs running it, couldn't see what the use of this could possibly be. Apple went in after Xerox called them and said they might be interested in developing the software further. What Apple developed was based on the concept, but the coding behind the Lisa and shortly thereafter the Mac brought about some new innovations entirely by Apple. Just because someone paints a scene and then someone stands beside them and paints a similar scene, does not result constitute 'stealing' as you have stated. It was handed over by Xerox to Apple, there was never any lawsuit by Xerox Parc.In return for $1,000,000 USD of pre-IPO stock, Xerox granted Apple Computer three days access to the PARC facilities. From there the engineers studied the system. They never stole it, this is a fallacy.

[larry]

Jamie--thank you for setting the record straight, one more time. Apple and Jobs stole nothing. But the rumor is perpetuated by the Microsoft side, possibly out of guilt from their actions, and so probably will never die.

[mkrupnick]

Best wishes for Jobs. That said, Apple's value is tied more to its wisdom as a company than the fate of any individual. Apple started as a system that defied convention. It has become a consumer juggernaut, albeit cleverly designed and marketed. Its future and those of its customers is open to any possibility, as is the economy that surrounds it.

[Mike]

Hope Jobs is doing well. But, to the rest, do you guys seriously think Apple runs based on a single person? You think Steve Jobs single handledly designed all the hardware and software that came out of Apple? There is no doubt that he is awesome, but even articles written by people who do this for a living suggest he is some soft of a one man army. Its ridiculous. He maybe the taskmaster but he has an arsenal of very bright people working for him.

[David Batterson]

Re Jamie's posting. Jamie is incorrect on his lawsuit statement. Xerox DID indeed sue Apple (see Wikipedia for the facts). But the lawsuit was dismissed as the statute of limitations had expired.