Jobs' health again fuels speculation

— -- Reports that Apple CEO Steve Jobs recently had a liver transplant are sparking speculation about the future of the electronics maker — and questions about what other issues the company may not be revealing.

Jobs, 54, received his new liver about two months ago in Tennessee, The Wall Street Journal said Saturday, citing unnamed sources. Apple declined to comment on the report. USA TODAY has not been able to independently verify the report.

The charismatic CEO has suffered from health problems since at least 2004, when he said that he had survived a rare form of pancreatic cancer. In January, Jobs went on medical leave after losing a noticeable amount of weight. At the time, he cited health problems that were "more complex than originally thought."

Apple spokesman Steve Dowling reiterated on Saturday that Jobs is expected to return to work at the end of June.

Pancreatic cancer can spread to nearby organs, including the liver, the National Cancer Institute says. About 21,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with liver cancer each year, the institute says. A transplant is a common treatment for cancer and other diseases, including cirrhosis and hepatitis C.

If Apple withheld material information about its CEO from shareholders, the Securities and Exchange Commission "should be interested," Enderle says.

In January, financial news service Bloomberg reported that the SEC was examining Apple's earlier disclosures about Jobs' health. Bloomberg cited unnamed sources, and both Apple and the SEC declined to comment.

Few companies are so closely linked with their CEOs as Apple. Jobs, who co-founded Apple in 1976, helped define personal computing in the 1980s and was the driving force behind the hugely successful iPhone, iPod and Macintosh computers.