White House doesn't release Jobs' meeting photo

LONDON, UK: The mystery over the health of cancer-stricken CEO of Apple Inc., Steve Jobs, is deepening day by day, after the White House decided not to release a photograph of him with US President Barack Obama at a summit in California.

Pancreatic cancer survivor Jobs attended a closed-door meeting with Obama, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and Oracle founder and CEO Larry Ellison on Thursday night.

But the "traditional" photograph of the dinner guests with Obama never materialised, fuelling new speculation that the 55-year-old Apple CEO's health may be failing much faster than previously admitted, according to the Daily Mail.

The meeting took place just hours after the National Enquirer published new pictures of Jobs looking painfully frail and weak, with his jeans and dark top hanging loosely on his thin body.

The lack of a photograph of Thursday's meeting have fuelled suspicions that the White House wanted to respect the privacy of Jobs.

Reporters were kept away from the participants and photographers were barred from the house.

Although Obama's aides confirmed that Jobs attended the dinner, he was not seen arriving or leaving the sprawling estate in a San Francisco suburb.

The talks were held at a mansion owned by venture capitalist John Doerr in the suburb of Woodside.

The Enquirer had earlier reported that Jobs is stricken with terminal pancreatic cancer and may have just six weeks to live.

Jobs stepped away from the company on medical leave last month. It was the third time in seven years that he had taken time out because of health reasons.

Because of his reputation at the helm of Apple, Jobs' health is linked to the company's financial fortunes.

Shares of Apple slipped slightly by 1.3 percent Friday.

Jobs had surgery in 2004 for a tumour in his pancreas called a neuroendocrine tumour. He had a liver transplant in 2009.

Apple has so far refused to provide any details of Jobs' condition and would not comment on the Enquirer pictures, reportedly taken as he arrived at the Stanford Cancer Centre in Palo Alto, California.