Inquiry Into Jobs' Health Puts SEC in New Territory

The Securities and Exchange Commission's inquiry into Apple’s disclosures on Steve Jobs’ health has the agency prying into perhaps the last remaining corner of executive privacy, Bloomberg reports. Securities law requires companies to reveal to shareholders information that could affect share price, but the health of executives has usually been left alone. Regulators are “delving into a sensitive area that’s very uncommon,” said one professor.

The SEC inquiry will likely center on Apple’s Jan. 5 and Jan. 14 announcements on Jobs’ health, which presented drastically different assessments despite being 9 days apart. To prove the earlier announcement wasn’t an understatement, investigators will be looking for evidence that Jobs learned something new about his health in the time between.