The New York Post reports that concerns remain over Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs health after he appeared thin at recent developers conferences. This is making investors nervous since it's not likely that anyone can do as good a job as Apple CEO. And Apple's board may have a duty to report on Jobs' health if he can't perform his duties.

I became familiar with this legal requirement two years ago when questions were raised to me about the health of Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) CEO, Bruce Wasserstein. The basic requirement for a board is unclear. As I wrote: "it appears that there are two conflicting points of view on the topic. On the one hand, the illness of the CEO -- particularly one as highly regarded as Wasserstein -- is material information under Regulation Fair Disclosure (FD) that could cause an investor to sell if it was disclosed. On the other hand, laws such as The Health Insurance Portability Act (HIPAA) protect the privacy of employee medical records."

In 2003, Jobs had a bout with pancreatic cancer. He recently appears to have lost a significant amount of weight according to the Post. In the case of Jobs, he seems to be appearing in public and doing his job, but the prospect that he might soon be out of Apple's developing picture does not bode well for investors. The lack of comment from Apple seems ominous to me. Meanwhile, Apple is expected to report EPS of $1.08 on revenue of $7.36 billion, according to First Call estimates.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He has no financial interest in the securities mentioned.

Is Apple's board lax in reporting on Jobs's health? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.