Much speculation about the reason for which the U.S. president, Barack Obama, met this week at an exclusive dinner with the most prominent executives in the world of technology.
The meeting with the president attended, among others, the creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, the CEO of Twitter, Dick Costolo, the president of Google, Eric Schmidt, and the current leader of Yahoo !, Carol Bartz.
According to White House spokesman, Jay Carney, a dozen businessmen and Obama addressed at this meeting "ways to work together to invest in American innovation and promote the growth of employment in the private sector."
Specifically, Carney said, Obama addressed "their proposals to invest in research and development and increase incentives for businesses to grow and hire more."
However, the meeting triggered a series of speculations in the sense that it was a departure for Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who is quite frail and has long retired from the company.
To make matters worse, this week broke the rumor, after a tabloid publication The National Enquirer , that the state of Jobs was terminal and only six remaining weeks. Already in 2004 the founder of Apple had left ahead of a battle against cancer.
The White House was responsible for distributing some pictures of the exclusive meeting with Silicon Valley executives. In one of them appears Steve Jobs, and although he looks back, is notable for its extreme thinness. This and other recent executive images give strength to the speculation that his health is critical.
Several experts around the world have predicted a strong impact on the economy that could lead to the death of one of the characters who revolutionized technology in recent years.
On the other hand, in another photograph distributed by Washington shows the young billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook, a very enjoyable talking with President Barack Obama.