Steve Jobs Returns to Apple; Fanboys Dance in the Streets

Steve Jobs has returned to the Apple campus, as media outlets are gleefully reporting. Stebe Jobs, Apple's personalistic (and autocratic) CEO  is recovering from a liver transplant, which probably caused a few investors to need heart transplants.

CNBC was all, like, "OMG!"

Why does Steve Jobs' health matter? CEOs get sick all the time. Some of 'em even die. Apple, though, is a bit different. The design-forward company has become a global tech powerhouse under Jobs, and its fortunes rise and fall with his ideas. There is no clear intellectual line of succession here, and Apple is infuriatingly secretive as it is. Resellers and investors alike have to deal with Cupertino's permanent poker face, sometimes not knowing if the brains behind their cash cow is even still alive.

Apple is all about keeping it slick and cool, but is allergic to giving up control of any information. This can ultimately hurt their stock: should something unfortunate happen, the herd of investors could spook. They're awfully skittish creatures, those investors. In this case, hiding details of the CEO's health could even be a violation of law. Either Jobs' health plummeted, promting an emergency transplant, or Apple lied to its investors. Which is it?