Apple's Jobs had liver transplant two months ago, WSJ reports

Steve Jobs, Apple Inc’s chief executive officer (CEO), had a liver transplant in Tennessee about two months ago, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Saturday, without saying where it got the information.

He is recovering well and is on schedule to return to work later this month, the newspaper reported. Jobs may be encouraged by his doctors to work part-time for a month or two, it said.

Jobs, 54, was considering a liver transplant as a result of complications following treatment for an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor in 2004, according to people who monitored his illness, Bloomberg reported January 16.

The co-founder of Apple, which pioneered graphical interfaces on personal computers and makes the iPod portable music player and iPhone mobile telephone, was suffering a “hormone imbalance,” according to a January 5 statement. He announced he would take a five-month medical leave nine days later.

Jobs is a vegetarian and is skeptical of mainstream medicine, Fortune reported last year. He delayed cancer surgery for nine months while he followed alternative treatments, the magazine reported in March.

Limitations on Jobs upon his return could lead to CEO Tim Cook taking a more encompassing role at Apple, possibly including appointment to the board of directors, according to the WSJ report. Jobs handed day-to-day management to Cook when he went on leave.

“Steve continues to look forward to returning to Apple at the end of June and there is nothing further to say,” Steve Dowling, an Apple spokesman said