• Bloomberg News, Monday, June 22, 2009 12:45 PM

Over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple CEO Steve Jobs has had a liver transplant during his leave of absence. The report cited unnamed sources. Experts tell Bloomberg that Apple should disclose whether or not that report is true, especially if he returns to work later this month in his role as CEO.

As Charles Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, says, "In the interests of transparency, I think it would be necessary for (Apple) to disclose something as serious as a liver transplant," Elson said. "Investors want to know if he's healthy and if he can continue to run the company." Even though the U.S. has strict medical privacy laws, Jobs' position as Apple's visionary leader may trump his right to privacy, says Nell Minow, co-founder of The Corporate Library, a research firm that tracks corporate governance issues.

"The CEO of a public company cannot have the luxury of privacy about significant medical matters, especially when he is a central part of the company's brand and a core asset," Minow said in an email. "A board of directors has to insist on and provide frankness to the company's constituents -- including its shareholders -- about the CEO's health and its impact on his availability to the company."

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