Apple’s co-founder and chief executive, Steve Jobs, is now back to work after taking a medical leave for five months, but some investors said the issues raised by Apple’s secrecy about his health problems and liver transplant are likely to remain.
The company said Steve Jobs is currently at Apple for several days a week and working from home the remaining days, but like the case of his leave, his return to work was coupled with only minimum disclosures.
The company refused to say if Steve Jobs’ role had changed from what it was before his leave, and it declined to discuss his health. It also would not say when his first returned to work at Apple, but person saw him working on the corporate campus a week ago.
The Apple chief’s official comeback is just before the self-imposed deadline for his medical leave. When Apple announced his leave in January, the company said he would be back at work by the end of June.
Steve Jobs underwent a liver transplant about two months ago, but word of the operation did not surface until earlier this month. Last week, a hospital in Tennessee confirmed that he had surgery there and said his prognosis was excellent.
News of the operation rekindled a controversy among shareholders and corporate governance experts about Apple’s scant disclosures regarding his health, a survivor of pancreatic cancer. His return to work is not likely to quell the debate.
With Steve Jobs’s return widely expected, Wall Street’s reaction to the news on Monday was muted. Apple shares closed down 47 cents at US$141.97.
Tim Cook, Apple’s chief operating officer during Steve. Jobs’s absence, kept its business humming, but Steve Jobs’s vision, attention to product detail and ability to inspire employees are unmatched and have shaped Apple’s success, so the hope is that he will stick around.
In Silicon Valley and beyond, critics and fans of Steve Jobs alike said they were elated by his return to work, which appeared to signal that his health had stabilized.
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